Count The Stars - Never Be Taken Alive 
Label: Victory Records
Rating: 
 

Here's the thing about bands that are fresh out of high school like Count the Stars: many of them want to emulate their heroes. And while Count the Stars certainly seem to have their act together for a young band, with better songwriting than most, it's sometimes hard to tell whether CTS are a pop-punk band trying to be a power pop band or a power-pop band struggling to break from its pop-punk leanings. The former route is admirable, the other damning.

At the onset of "Never Be Taken Alive", the band's second album (the first was an even more indie release than their current Victory album), the listener is hit with "Brand New Skin," a diary-reading song that attempts a hook with "This brand new skin is wearing thin," a line that feels like it should have been left in the oven a little longer to develop into an even wittier observation. But again, these kids just got out of high school.

This opener, and much of its companion songs, would lead some to believe that the album is just another pop-punk effort, and because said genre seems to run abundant these days, it's very easy to want to turn a blind ear to Count the Stars. 

However, every once in a while, they unleash a song that could very well be a glimpse into their future. For example, "On the Way Home," a song that nails the Weezer homage right down to the "woah-oh" chorus, shows that the band wants to look beyond their teenage brains and become something better, much like the band it emulates on that particular song.

However, here's the thing: if Count the Stars want to evolve, they should probably spend more time studying Weezer as opposed to emulating them. What makes great power pop bands, i.e. Weezer, Everclear (circa 1996), and the Matthew Good Band, respectable, is that while traces of mall rock linger in their sound, the ultimate goal is to make far more complicated music that remains infectiously catchy. This involves more technique than simple drum rolls, call-and-answer choruses ("On the Way Home"), and wearing your heart on your tattooed sleeve ("All Good Things").

Some songs, like "Right Behind Me" and "Pictures" get the idea diverging from the DIY three chord sound ever so slightly, and it is those songs that should become the intellectual blueprint for future CTS efforts.

VERDICT: Don't expect greatness from "Never Be Taken Alive". However, understand that the album makes a great study in the burgeoning pop band, and, with that in mind, expect even better efforts from them in the future. For now, it's still better TRL pop-punk than its peers.

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