Bernell DorroughStory of the Year
Page Avenue
Maverick Records
For fans of: Blink-182, the Used, Vendetta Red
Grade: C
Final Word: This story’s been told many times before.
Being from St. Louis myself, it would be nice to say that local boys Story of the Year have made in “Page Avenue” a promising major label debut. But, like fellow St. Louisans Greenwheel, who also record for a major label, Story of the Year have made an album that amounts to nothing more than bland alternative rock, made for immediate airplay and for even more immediate disappearance.
Story of the Year, formerly Big Blue Monkey, have been around for some time. Their debut, produced by Used producer John Feldman, is a mix of pop-punk and screamo, alternating quiet and loud parts with melodic vocals and aggressive screams. It’s a formula that has been doing well for bands like the Used and Vendetta Red lately, and Story of the Year doesn’t do anything to set itself apart from the rest of the pack. The first single, “Until the Day I Die,” which is doing well on radio and MTV2, sounds like nearly anything else one might hear on 105.7 The Point or any other mainstream alt-rock station.
The album is produced in such a manner as to remove any rawness or emotion from it whatsoever. The jagged edges are filed off of the guitars, and even when vocalist Dan Marsala seems to be screaming his heart out, it is compressed so perfectly that it just seems like another piece of the pop-punk puzzle.
The only excitement comes on the final track, “Falling Down,” which includes guest vocals from Toby Morse of the similar but far superior H20, as well as Ray Cappo of straight-edge heroes Youth of Today. Both of those bands have achieved, long before, what Story of the Year sorely lacks, and their presence makes it even more evident that this Story has been told many times before.