Since Fall out Boys' "From Under The Cork Tree" last year we seem to be entering a new phase of EMO laden pop punk. Whether this is purely down to that album's commercial success spurring other bands on to follow its blueprint for financial reasons or if it means that other bands who have a similar musical outlook are able to bask in some reflected glory is difficult to say. 

Either way, bands like Cute Is What We Aim For will attract some criticism for their similarity to their more established peers (in this case the aforementioned Fall Out Boy and label mates The Academy Is and Panic At The Disco spring immediately to mind in comparisons to this record). So is this fair? In my opinion, probably. 

You see regardless of genre when bands start out they have influences, some subtle, some not so, and the measure of greatness is found in those bands who can take their influences and meld them into something original. CIWWAF do that sporadically here and may well prove in the longer term that they can grow beyond the mainly formulaic EMO they've given us on this record.

At this present time though what this collection gives us is a combination of Fall Out Boys infectious way with a melody and chorus married to The Academy Is and Panic At The Discos occasionally overly verbose lyrical content and delivery.

There are rays of hope though, "The Fourth Drink Instinct" makes a hooky chorus out of the lyric "what made you think that he couldn't find the door in the morning when he found that bed so easily in the dark" (its about one night stands from a vulnerable female perspective) and "Lyrical Lies" is an accomplished acoustic ballad. Its just that there's not quite enough of this variety going on and some of the lyrics seem to be trying too hard to be clever (the same goes for some of the song titles as well!!).   

Don't get me wrong, the album as a whole is very enjoyable, just not very mEMOrable and if I hadn't already been exposed to the previous efforts of the aforementioned bands I would be hailing CIWWAF as EMO pioneers. The way it stands though is that Fall Out Boy have a total hold on the pop/punk crown at present and Panic At The Disco have a more eclectic heir apparent look about them. However it will be intriguing to see if bands like CIWWAF and The Academy Is turn in second albums that build and expand on their respectively solid debuts as that would be genuinely interesting and may help to keep this scene thriving.

Let us know your views on 'Same Old Bloodrush With A New Touch'

Track List

Newport Living
There's A Class For This
Finger Twist & Split
Risque
Sweat The Battle Before The Battle Sweats You
The Fourth Drink Instinct
Sweet Talk 101
The Curse Of Curves
I Put The''Metro'' In Metronome
Lyrical Lies
Moan
Teasing To Please (Left Side, Strong Side)

Line Up

Jeff Czum - Guitar
Tom Falcone - Drums
Fred Cimato - Bass
Shaant Hacikyan - Vocals