World War Me - World War Me

Sometimes it is hard to pick up the influences in a band’s music, and at others it is so obvious that even a blind man will ask for it to be toned down. Here we have a band that are attempting to bring together My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy and Bowling For Soup, and for the most part it comes across very well. True, they have brightened up the My Chemical Romance tendencies so that they aren’t as overtly emo as they have been in the past, but if you played this album straight after ‘The Black Parade’ then one could spend forever pointing out the similarities. I must confess that I did use to enjoy that album, but having to play it repeatedly in the car to satisfy the musical tastes of one teenage daughter has now forever blighted it for me. Consequently, although I can appreciate the debut from Chicago band World War Me, it isn’t something that I want to keep listening to, but I do truly believe that in this instance it is very much down to me as opposed to the band and what they have produced, as when it comes to pop-punk mixed with hardcore and plenty of influences from the bands above, then it is actually very good indeed.