If you've listened to Tranformers: Revenge of the Fallen soundtrack, then you're surely acquainted with Cavo's contribution "Let It Go." It's one of those semi-rock ballad songs in the flick. The band released their latest effort, "Bright Days, Dark Nights," last August featuring 11 songs:
1. Champagne
2. Crash
3. Let It Go
4. Cry Wolf
5. Ghost
6. Blame
7. My Little Secret
8. Beautiful
9. We All Fall Down
10. Over Again
11. Useless
"Champagne," with gritty lyrics and edgier guitars, opens the album and makes you think twice - is this the same guys that made "Let It Go?" Followed by "Crash," another hard rockin' tune (currently burning the alternative charts), you'll realize that this is not your typical mainstream pop-rock band . But when you get to songs like "My Little Secret" and "Let It Go" you get that Nickelbacky "Far Away" or Daughtry-ish vibe. They probably decided to try the typical rock album formula - play all the original noise you like, but throw in a rock ballad or two for commercial sales. It works favorably in this case, as those songs mentioned are not that bad. Lyrically engaging is "Ghost," an anti-love song of sorts for the disillusioned ... or recently broken-up. The sounds of "Beautiful" reminded me of the band, July for Kings. Actually, Casey Walker's voice is in between the Rob Thomas and Joe Hedges range. Examples are "Over Again" and "Blame." My favorites (and I consider as the best songs) are "Cry Wolf" - I love the guitars, and "Useless." The only song I didn't like is "We All Fall Down." The intro sounds like something like Linkin Park's Joseph Hahn would concoct, though unsuccessful in this case.
Overall, I love this album. It's not so edgy that you have to be in a certain mood to listen to it, and yet it's not too pop that it will turn you off. It's within the the balanced alternative rock boundaries. And though I have name-dropped several artists in describing their music, it doesn't mean their sound is not original. It is (I just don't have that imagination to search for adjectives). The whole work is a combination of rock tunes that won't bore you with same-sounding melodies. Just like the album title, it can go on to either extremes but not miss the grays in between.
I daresay it's one of the best albums I've heard this year and hopefully, it doesn't get overlooked.
