KingBanana.net

1997
• On The Run
• Victory Records

I am so glad that the kids in 1997 decided to grow as a band instead of staying stagnant and pursuing a path more aligned to the paramore styles they were starting to get cornered into. For some reason a good number of this bands reviews for their debut album compared them to paramore which is ludicrous seeing that the female vocals were only 1/3 the dynamic. Well if anything was going to further their path from that of Hayley Williams then it would have been the steps taken to write their sophomore attempt On the Run.

This album has a lot going for it and i feel comfortable in stating that the 100,000 plus kids who had their hearts crushed when The Early November decided to retire can now invest their time in an equally catchy and fun act with 1997. A good majority of this is due to guitarist Caleb Pepp who seems to be in the same class of songwriting monster that Ace Enders seems to be.  I feel that Caleb made a much stronger offering this time around and the addition of the bands second Female vocalist/pianist (after the first one left) helped out as well, her voice was much more angelic and less pop star oriented. Unfortunately she abandoned the project in the middle of a tour taking the bass player with her and somewhat crippling the band for some period of time. The gang is now on their third female vocalist/pianist search and already in pre-production for their third album as of this albums review.

The music is that same indie rock orchestral sound that has been catching ears for years and can be comparable to Straylight Run, The Hush Sound, and This providence at times, but these boys and girls seem to do it with a just more zest. They have the chance for a mainstream merge without compromising their values and that has been shown with the more mature offering that “On The Run” is compared to their debut “A Better View Of The Rising Sun”. While Straylight Run always seemed close to becoming a VH1 rotation artist it just never played  out for them in the right way and eventually Female vocalist and family member Michelle fled the band for a more solo themed career. But these kids have the chance and lets hope they take every precaution available in the quest for a new Female lead.

If all the stars fall in the right places their next album should be the successful equivalent of The Early Novembers “The Rooms Too Cold”. I think there are a lot of kids still wandering out there looking for a replacement to TEN and they should point their attention to this band for a while and see if the ingredients arn’t here for what they are looking for.

Overall a great album that seems to be loosing steam quickly due to member changes and bad memories, get on this train while you still can and while the band still has enough horsepower to stay in the game.