Baltimore pop-punkers All Time Low have returned with their sixth studio album "Last Young Renegade," their first record with Fueled By Ramen. Quite the departure from their previous signature pop-punk sound, All Time Low have taken a more pop-rock vibe with more keyboards and synths than guitars. Although their classic sound was getting old after five albums, this change doesn't really impress me. All the songs seem to blend together and none of them are huge stand-out tracks.
Track one is the title track "Last Young Renegade" which was released a few months ago as a single. It has some reminders of a typical All Time Low song and is a pretty good opening to the album. The verses are pretty mellow and the chorus kicks in sounding like a classic ATL song with the guitars and the line "you were my last young renegade heartache" that singer Alex Gaskarth belts. It's extremely catchy and leaves the listener hopeful for the rest of the album.
Next is "Drugs and Candy." It starts out with this weird synth thing in the background and it's mostly just Gaskarth's vocals in the background. The lyrics create a typical relationship-gone-wrong type song, comparing opposites, drugs and candy. There's an exciting build up to the chorus but then the chorus is underwhelming. It's definitely not the most original thing I've heard. This is one of those songs that blends into the rest of the album for me and I can't really find anything special about it.
Next is "Dirty Laundry" which was the first single released a few months ago. It gives us a taste of ATL's new sound with their new label, Fueled By Ramen. This song got mixed reviews and the lyrics are a little cheesy ("dirty laundry looks good on you") but it's definitely grown on me since it was released. As you can imagine, the music video takes place in a laundromat. It's actually one of my favorites on the album and was a great choice as a lead single. The song is very chilled out and atmospheric until about the last chorus when the rest of the band really kicks in and it sounds like classic ATL. It's a nice combination of their old sound and this new sound that they're experimenting with.
Next is "Good Times" which was released a few days ago as another promotional single (the album is 10 songs and 5 of them were released before the album was out). This is another song that underwhelmed me. It's a nostalgic song about not forgetting about the good times. It's very synth driven but it's still very minimal. There's no big chorus, Gaskarth just simply repeats "I won't forget the good times." I'm still in the phase of listening to this album from front to back but once the album fully sinks in I'll probably find myself skipping this one. I write these reviews as I listen to each song and I was waiting for a Spotify ad to finish before I could write about this one. I listened to the album a few times earlier today and I couldn't even remember anything about it to write something before the song started.
Track 5 is "Nice2KnoU," easily the most obnoxious song title I've ever seen. It's a shame they had to write the title like that because this is probably my favorite on the album. It starts out with this fast-paced, fun guitar riff and it really picks me up after some of the previous underwhelming tracks. This is one of the few songs on the album that does the synths right. They're blended in slightly with the guitars so it still feels like All Time Low but it's still new. I really like the sound of the pre-chorus when Gaskarth sings, "one more time for second chances, we just wanna do some damage." Wish there were more jams like this on the album.
Next is "Life of the Party," another single released early. It's a song about parties and drinking and how Gaskarth is tired of the party rockstar style life he's been living for years with the band. It's a really interesting take on a song about partying. It's definitely one of my favorites lyrically and the music isn't my favorite but it's not terrible. The synths dominate this song but they definitely work better than other songs on the album.
Next is "Nightmares," another softer song on the record. This song is on the longer side and seems to drag on for too long but I really like the lyrics. I'm getting the feeling the song is about anxiety because of the lyrics, "it's hard to be brave when you're alone in the dark. I told myself that I wouldn't be scared but I'm still having nightmares." For me, this is the most relatable song on the album.
Track 8 is "Dark Side of Your Room." It starts with an eerie, dark, guitar but with a very pop-sounding drum beat. The lyrics are pretty boring, just another relationship song but the music is really good on this one. The chorus has those typical pop-punk chords again which restores my faith in this album a little bit. Rian Dawson's drumming on this song really stands out to me as well.
Track 9 is "Ground Control" which features pop-duo Tegan and Sara. I've seen a lot of reviews of this song saying that Tegan and Sara's performance on this song is more impressive than All Time Low's which isn't really the point of them being featured on a song. It should still be an All Time Low song. This is another kinda boring synth-driven song but Tegan and Sara's voices are a nice change of pace. I can definitely see what people mean about Tegan and Sara taking control of this song. This is another song that's underwhelming and it would be entirely forgettable if Tegan and Sara weren't featured on the track.
The final song on this album is "Afterglow." This is another slow one with weird atmospheric synth vibes. Gaskarth's vocals are really nice on this song, as the softer instrumentals show off his vocal skills. It's probably the most experimental song on the album in terms of ATL straying from their old sound. It works better than other songs like "Good Times" and "Drugs and Candy" but it's not outstanding.
Overall, "Last Young Renegade" is a nice attempt at a style change for All Time Low after releasing 5 pop-punk albums without much progression but a lot of these songs fall short and are forgettable. I'm all for bands changing their sound but not every band will change their sound the right way. I'm gonna give this a 6/10.
