Artist: Quietdrive
Album: When All That’s Left Is You
Label: Epic Records
Purchase: Smart Punk
Release Date: May 30, 2006
Overall: 9.2
Music: 9.5
Lyrics: 8.5
Production: 9.5
Every now and then a CD will come along that turns in to the soundtrack to a significant part of your life. To the summer of 2006, you have found your soundtrack. Quietdrive is a band I was first turned on to by catching my friends Daphne Loves Derby in concert. As the opening band, their catchy pop-driven melodic rock caught my attention with the first song, and held it now a month after the last song. My mailbox greeted me on the first day of my summer with the debut full length, When All Thatâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s Left Is You.
I purchased their iTunes EP From The Ceiling after the concert and it contains the lead track from the new full length, Rise From The Ashes. This song is a perfect entrance to one of the best-produced records of the year. Straightforward chord progressions are layered with the guitars of Brandon Lanier & Matt Kirby. and the violin of lead singer Kevin Truckenmiller. I know what youâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢re thinking, violin? Is this a wanna-be Yellowcard? Not even close, while Yellowcard uses the violin as the defining part of the sound, Quietdrive uses it hone their sound even further ahead of the tasteful pop symphony found on When All Thatâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s Left Is You.
This album is drowning in potential singles, Get Up, Let Me Go In, Take A Drink With Me, where the list stops the album ends. Some of the vocal melodies I have heard before, but not delivered with the clarity and emotion of this band. These songs are perfect to roll the windows down and blast on a summer drive. In a time period where modern radio is being infected with Fall Out Boy replicas, Quitedrive has a refreshing pop sound that will please fans from groups the Backstreet Boys to Cartel to Anberlin. While that mix of bands is quite variable, there is no doubt in my mind that any pop-rock fan will find a new guilty pleasure in this band.
Track Listing
1. Rise From the Ashes
2. Get Up
3. Take A Drink
4. Let Me Go In
5. Rush Together
6. Maybe Misery
7. I Lie Awake
8. The Season
9. Time After Time
10. Both Ways
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