Bayside

It's kinda surprising to me how little attention this band and album gets, this is actually some pretty solid emo pop/pop punk in the vein of Alkaline Trio and even some Taking Back Sunday. In fact, it reminds me a lot of Alk3 vocally, though the riffs occasionally go harder and there's some actual soloing here, which I like. As usual with this style, though, the lyrics can get pretty over the top and icky with the whole "you're a girl and you're a bitch for that" kind of vibe, but ... read more

The self titled really set Bayside apart from the other emo acts at the time. There was a solid pop structure that emboldened by it's formulaic approach. It felt so deeply settled in a base knowledge of song structure that we begin to take for granted just how strong each song is. Devotion and Desire had a strangle hold on the warped tour/AP Magazine scene. Towing the line for drop tuning emo that did not feel cringey.