“Thou shalt not make a bad album” – if Park wrote the ten Commandments, I’m pretty sure that would be number one on the list. The good news for Park fans is that ‘Building A Better…’ is every bit as good as their previous two albums. Which is also good news for those yet to discover the magic of Park – a band so criminally underrated it makes me cringe every time I see such shit as Hawthorne Heights hogging a music TV channel near you. Playing a brand of driving, melodic indie-rock not too dissimilar from an early The Get Up Kids, Park rock like a bastard. And this CD ought to be in your record collection.
Released on US indie Lobster Records – the label which brought you Over It and Yellowcard – Park really should be a Hell of a lot bigger than they are. And the sad thing is that I can’t really put my finger on why they’re not bigger – the songs are accessible and brilliant in equal measure, yet they don’t ever need to go down an obvious route or ever sound forced. Vocalist Ladd wears his heart on his sleeve at all times and he has one of those rare vocals that just don’t sound like anyone else. Mix in a stash of fantastic tunes and you have a pretty much unbeatable combination. And if you thought ‘It Won’t Snow…’ and ‘No Signal’ were good albums, this new record will be right up your street too.
In true Park fashion the band go right at it from the word go – the stomping ‘The Trophy Wife’ is up there with their best songs, while ‘A Message’ is an absolute Park classic. ‘Chica Chica’ is another one of those all time great Park songs – almost up there with the brilliant ‘Clue Me In’ from the first album. ‘Building A Better _____’ doesn’t really stray from what Park have been doing for the last five years, but it does solidify my opinion that this band are nothing short of brilliant and deserve far more credit than they’ve received so far. Moving on a little bit from their last two albums, you could say Park have been ‘building a better’…band.