By Ryan Broderick, Editor-at-Large

“Brand New Eyes,” is the newest effort by Paramore, a female fronted pop act that walk the tenuous line between stealing New Found Glory riffs and stealing Maroon 5 riffs. Their newest album attempts to craft something original, which they do, albeit boring.

Paramore is a band name scoffed at by the Warped Tour crowd alumni but heralded by the newest generations coming through the red and black striped ranks. Their previous release “Riot!” was a massive hit and propelled them into tween-dom.

They found themselves recently separated from their pop-punker peers and instead vying for radio play against The Jonas Brothers, Coldplay, Nickelback, and the dregs of mainstream radio rock. Walmart was only a few steps away from replacing their Hannah Montana wigs with red Hayley Williams wigs.

Paramore’s third and newest album is oddly decent. From the opening track the album seems to deliver more of the same with an odd dimension their earlier work lacked. Frontwoman Hayley Williams’ voice has more depth, ranging from a typical Avril Lavigne rip off to a throatier yell to something almost similar to Tegan And Sara. She usually does all of this in the same song, too.

The rest of the band has added some new techniques, as well. The guitarists mix up the Paramore song structures interestingly enough to carry each song. The production is crisp and filled with a stronger presence of reverb. Bluntly put, it sounds like they put more time and effort into making it, which is always nice. About 70% of the album lazily dips into Switchfoot inspired butt rock guitar parts and bland rhythm arrangements, though.

If they have a foot in the pop-rock door and a foot still with their hometown fans, “Brand New Eyes” has Paramore doing a split. They’ve made their heavier parts heavier and their pop sensibilities catchier. Of course, that reads on paper better than it sounds.
Bizarrely enough the album it sounds the closest to is New Found Glory’s “Coming Home”. They weave pop-punk guitar parts around catchy pop choruses and oddly eclectic arrangements to produce something bland, but mildly interesting.

It’s not all bizarrely mediocre surprises though. The lyrics are horrible. They’re absolutely, unequivocally horrid. They’re cookie cutter “put these on your marble notebook in study hall, girls” garbage. They sound like someone filled out an “I just broke up with my first boyfriend” mad-lib. And they almost sum up Paramore’s entire problem.

Hayley Williams is a girl. It shouldn’t be such a discussion of gender, and they’ve done their best not to show it and not advertise it that way, but she’s a girl and her lyrics are less lead singer of a band and more pop star with a backing group. She tries, but the more formulaic the lyrics and the more dominant the vocal range, the more the girl’s going to sound like a diva.

Paramore attempts to build a band personality, but whether it’s because of marketing or just production, they only end up as Hayley Williams and a studio. It’s a real shame too, because without her “Brand New Eyes” would be a pretty interesting listen. But because Paramore refuses to decide whether they’re playing for Warped Tour or playing for Radio Disney, they fail at both.

(Photo Courtesy of www.sarah-land.ning.com)

(Photo Courtesy of www.fanpop.com)