Mayday Parade – Tales Told My Dead Friends

  • Bobby Gorman posted
  • Reviews

Mayday Parade

Tales Told My Dead Friends - Fearless Records

I’ve always enjoyed Fearless Records‘ output; while yeah, they did fluctuate between amazing releases and more forgettable ones, I would still say I’m a fan of most of theirs. But this also means that when I see the logo on the back of a disc, I’m not quite sure what to expect. Will it be fantastic or will I just shove it into my pile and never play it again? Sadly, I think I’ll be leaning more towards the second option withTales Told By Dead Friends.

The first thing you notice when you play the EP is the immense similarity to Fall Out Boy and the whole emo/indie/pop-rock scene, and that is it’s biggest downfall. Musically, it’s done well. It’s catchy, energetic and pretty fun (particularly the closer The Last Something That Meant Anything). The production is spectacular, it’s very smooth, flows perfectly and everything is perfectly layered; although you never really notice that they have three guitars, it could almost just be cut down to one sole axe and you would get the same vibe.

While it is written well, there’s nothing that makes it stick out in any way, shape or form. It just falls amongst the ranks of the blooming emo/pop-punk scene. It comes and goes and leaves the listener thinking only that “well, that was good, but incredibly long for an EP” (all six songs are around five minutes long, which makes it start to drag after a listen or two). There’s nothing that makes it memorable, instead Tales Told By Dead Friends is just a safe, radio-friendly output from a band that is just wanting to cash in an ever growing trend. There’s just nothing unique to it, and that hurts it too much; so even though it is written well, it’s not replay worthy.

The sad thing is that with the right push these guys will sell millions of albums and be held up with MTV’s poster boys Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco. While some people may love that idea, for me, it’s just too played out. Good for a few listens, but not enough substance to keep you coming back and replaying it again.