 
Australian pop-punkers Tonight Alive released
their debut album ‘What Are You Scared Of?’
back in October 2011 and since then they have
been busy touring across Australia, America, England
and Europe in the attempt to make a name for themselves
and it seems that their hard work has paid off
as back in February 2013 the band were added to
the long running Kerrang Tour which saw Tonight
Alive tour alongside Fearless Vampire Killers,
Chiodos and the Black Veil Brides to 11 different
towns and Cities across the UK.
Since touring on the Kerrang Tour Tonight Alive
have been busy working on their second studio
album ‘The Other Side’ which is due
to be released on Sony Music any day now and I
have to say that the album is an exciting pop-punk
album which is easily going to take this young
talented Australian band in the right direction
to success.
The album opens with ‘The Ocean’ the
song is a pure bounce along pop-punk track, its
big, fun and extremely exciting sounding yet instrumentally
aggressive in places, vocally the song is a bouncy
affair especially as front lady Jenna Mcdougall
shouts out “Some days it feels like the
ocean lies inside of me” during the ever
so punchy chorus.
‘Don’t Wish’ is a solid track
it starts off a lot different from your typical
Tonight Alive song but as soon as the explosive
chorus kicks in with Jenna Mcdougall singing ‘I
won’t be the one you call when everyone
is gone and when you treat her wrong, don’t
wish that she was me now that I’ve moved
along it’s clear we don’t belong,
this is your last song, don’t wish that
she was me’ you start to realise that the
Tonight Alive you have loved for a few years now
have just got a lot better and lot more serious
and personal within their songs.
‘Lonely Girl’ see’s Tonight
Alive address pure anger and friends screwing
you over as Jenna Mcdougall sings out “And
I don’t feel sorry for you, sorry for you
cos now the tables turning and now the bridge
is burning it’s coming crashing down”.
The song is an extremely bouncy number and easily
one of the stand out tracks on the album due to
its fast pace and well written straight to the
point don’t mess with me lyrics.
‘Hell And Back’ is another stand out
track mainly for the way that Jenna Mcdougall
executes the chorus as she really shows off her
diverse vocal range, whilst the rest of the band
lay down some seriously catchy instrumental sounds.
The album title track the ‘The Other Side’
see’s Tonight Alive tone things down as
the song starts off with minimal instrumental
sounds as Jenna Mcdougall is given full room for
her near spoken word vocals as she sings “I
was back in high school when we were talking late
from 10 staying up till 3AM just friends, you
didn’t have your license yet we would lie
under sunsets without a single worry yet just
friends, and you would let me dry your hair I
thought about you everywhere I haven’t been
the same since then, just friends, cause every
time I ran, I ran to you I meant it every time
I said I loved you, I kiss the thought of you
and I, I still regret the day that we said goodbye”
whilst the rest of the band take it in turns to
come in giving the song a slight bit of punk edge
as Jenna Mcdougall sings about some regretful
moments in her life.
As mentioned above the album features many standout
tracks but it is ‘The Fire’ which
stands out the most as the song comes in moments
after the chilled out ‘The Other Side’
finishes and everything about the song is spot
on from the 100 mile per hour guitars riffs to
the bouncy basslines to the extremely energetic
vocals that Jenna McDougall is laying down especially
during the sing-a-long chorus.
I could go on and talk about every track on the
album but it is slightly pointless as each and
every track on the album is listenable in its
own way as there are no weak moments within the
album, and is safe to say that Tonight Alive have
put everything into creating ‘The Other
Side’ as it really is a big listenable album
which features 12 tracks and clocks in just under
40minutes, the fans are absolutely going to love
the album and if Tonight Alive continuing touring
as solid as they have since they formed and continue
to write big personal catchy songs then they are
going to have a future of big opportunities.
5/5
Review by Trigger
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