What You Don’t See
The Story So Far
Pure Noise Records
The Story So Far have satisfied their fans with their third release, What You Don’t See. However, the fans would have been satisfied with anything and the band’s latest record did not live up to the hype of being one of 2013’s most anticipated albums.
This California based pop-punk band had their work cut out for them when trying to follow up the instant alternative classic, 2011’s Under Soil And Dirt. The second album became an immediate fan-favourite to music lovers of all genres and defined a sound thousands of high school kids have since tried to replicate.
What You Don’t See is an extension of that sound but with little improvement and drive it offers itself as a step to the side and slightly backwards rather than a leap forwards. I am not convinced that forward is the direction they were trying to move in.
Opening track “Things I Can’t Change” offers a certain catchiness almost consistent with Under Soil And Dirt but from there the rest of the songs on the album hardly vary from the template.
The poignant lyrics as heard in last album are replaced by generic yet hard hitting pop punk lines, but it is the delivery of which that rescues the album from being a write-off. The emotionally driven vocals of Parker Cannon, along with the classic Gibson SG tone, propelled the band into the hearts of all listeners. Cannon’s vocals in What You Don’t See demonstrate confident finesse and conditioned passion. Also, harmonies add an increased sense of vocal awareness along with bigger sounding choruses in songs like “Right Here” and “Bad Luck.”
Excellent lead guitar parts, like at the beginning of “Empty Space,” show a more versed side of the band’s musicianship and continue to make the album a pleasurable listening experience. Contemporaneously, the aggressive soloing and iconic vocals of “All Wrong” make it one of the most enjoyable tunes of the album.
Concluding the album, “Framework” is the longest track. At three minutes and seven seconds, it sums up the direction taken in What You Don’t See as well as what some reviewers call “the sophomore slump” that the California boys seem to have fallen in writing their third album.
While The Story So Far’s What You Don’t See is a solid pop punk album from first track to last, it pales in comparison to their previous releases and does not exhibit nearly as much potential.
In a time when pop-punk albums are a dime a dozen, a better effort is required to stay in the limelight.
