October
9th (October 12th for Australians) celebrated
the long awaited release of American pop punk band All Time Low’s fifth studio
album, Don’t Panic.
This
album is most definitely a step up from the band’s last album, Dirty
Work. For a lot of fans, Dirty Work was a huge let
down, claimed to be too poppy with too much auto tune, something that was not
All Time Low. The band has said themselves that the album was a bit of a
mistake, and signing with Interscope was the wrong choice for them.
The
band decided to leave Interscope Records and create their new record as an
unsigned band, later signing with their original label, Hopeless, to release
the record. Don’t Panic seems like it is the album that Dirty Work should have
been.
Don’t
Panic definitely seems to take all the positive aspects from their previous
albums, and puts them all together to create the twelve tracks, but mainly, the
songs seem to take inspiration from their earliest releases Put Up or
Shut Up and So Wrong, It’s Right.
The
album starts with The Reckless and The Brave which was also the first single.
The song was a perfect decision for the album’s opening track. The song is a
fun and energetic start to the album, and gives you just a slight taste as to
what you’re in for with the rest of the tracks.
The
stand out songs would probably have to be If These Sheets Were States, So Long
Soldier and the third single off the album, Somewhere In Neverland. All of
these tracks sound like what All Time Low is really meant to be. They are true
pop punk tunes, they’re fun, loud songs with lots of guitar and lots of drums,
and are songs that seem like they would really go off live.
The
album has a variety of guest vocalists including Jason Vena from Acceptance on
the track Outlines, which also had Fall Out Boy front man Patrick Stump as
co-writer, Anthony Raneri from Bayside on So Long Soldier and guest harmonies
from Cassadee Pope on Backseat Serenade.
There
aren’t really any songs on the album that can be considered as a least
favourite, All Time Low have managed to create an album full of great pop punk tracks,
with no let downs and it has impressed the fans and even those who weren’t previously
fans immensely.