Oh Gabe…
Midtown are one of the greatest pop-punk bands of the early 00s. Cobra Starship are…well, not. From pop-punk with a twist to the most camp band around, Cobra make HelloGoodbye sound like Napalm Death. It’s kitsch, it’s camp…it’s neon. The kids love it and I can totally see why, it’s so OTT and Gabe plays the class clown and that’s the reason Decaydance will make a bucketload of cash off them. ‘Viva La Cobra’ is even more poppy and aimed at the mainstream than the first record and while there are a few good songs here, it’s not that great a pop record overall.
‘The City Is At War’ and ‘Guilty Pleasure’ have huge hooks, granted, but ‘Kiss My Sass’ apart the rest is fairly mild fair. Heavy on the samples and electronica but missing out on the catchy choruses this album kind of fails to bridge the gap all that successfully. I can see why younger kids would like it, but for us oldies there’s not enough fun and not enough choruses.
As a pop record it’s OK. For a Midtown fan this is terrible. Gabe, it’s not too late to reform the band…