I can’t help but think these guys should be able to do better than this. ‘Survivor’s Guide’ isn’t a bad EP, but I just feel a little underwhelmed by it. They’re very clearly talented musicians who know how to write good pop-punk songs, but the six very polished and slick tracks here just do very little for me. In places the band really do shine – the last 50 seconds of ‘The Last Hurrah’ with all kinds of vocal gymnastics, chord changes and backing harmonies, works exceedingly well – but in others it just sounds a bit obvious and, well, long. I’m a great believer in pop-punk songs not outstaying their welcome. If you can’t say it in three minutes then you’re saying it wrong. The Startover‘s shortest track is 3:23, they hit more than 5 minutes once and go past 4:30 twice. As a result too many songs sound too long.
I’ll start with the good bits. ‘Tactics’ is a great song, good riff, superb vocals and harmonies and a catchy chorus. Thumbs up. But it’s the only full track that I’d willingly listen to again. The others all have elements that sound great, but there’s too much fluff surrounding them. ‘If You Build It’ sounds a bit like Yellowcard but just lacks something, while the opening ‘Worst Case Scenario’ is just too long and would be far better if two minutes were hacked from it.
The Startover are obviously on the right lines and there’s more than enough here to justify a bright future. But I feel this EP is a missed opportunity to shine. The band can look at this and think ‘yeah, it’s good’ but they’d be kidding themselves if they thought it was great. The pop-punk genre is saturated as it is and you need to really stand out nowadays. I’m not convinced ‘Survivor’s Guide’ stands out enough.