Hellogoodbye: Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs!


Disco fever has hit the scene and pop punk rockers hello goodbye have followed suite with their latest offering Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs!
Starting the album off with "all your love", you are thrown into this upbeat melodic electronic pop assault that would do well in the top ten dance chart. This intensifies when followed up by "here in your arms". The instantly noticeable slick production starts to make you feel queasier than downing a bottle of vodka at a Reflects night club with Daniel Bedingfield and Cher on repeat!
Things do get better as the pro tools special effects are toned down a notch, and Hellogoodbye start to sound like a band rather than Optimus Prime mixing music on Soundwaves tape deck.
The album breaks into interesting territory, with "oh it's love." Soft delicate vocals layered over intricate mandolin playing which makes for an interesting mid-album acoustic track. This is backed up with songs like "baby its fact", and "figures a and b" throwing out awesome Indy pop rock tracks full of hooks and choruses that will infect your brain and have you singing them in the shower all summer.
Things go downhill as the music blends together with all ideas of experimentation, Indy pop vibes and vocal delicacy are drowned out by the red do not press button on pro tools, and songs like "I saw it on your keyboard" and "touchdown turnaround" being full of oh's and ah's and offering nothing more to the album other than retro style Casio keyboard claps.
As you can expect from a drive thru release the lyrics are full of adolescent teen styling's which cover the usual bubblegum pop checklist, love girls and break-ups, which isn't always a bad thing when done with some style and conviction, but Forrest Kline manages to just fall short of any emotional attachment and conviction to the songs he sings.
Hellogoodbye may not be as witty as brand new or have the style of panic at the disco but then they have sold over 300,000 copies of this album so the kids must love it.

Chris Miller