Set Your Goals — This Will Be The Death Of Us

This Will Be The Death Of Us

Epitaph

Sheena Lyonnais (CHARTattack)

08/06/2009 2:33pm

It's always dangerous to name an album something like This Will Be The Death Of Us, especially when your album isn't really that good.

Luckily, Set Your Goals have an impressive list of guest vocalists including Hayley Williams (Paramore), Chad Gilbert (New Found Glory) and Vinnie Caruana (I Am The Avalanche, The Movielife) and pop-punk to save them. They've abandoned most of their hardcore elements to the point where ripping tracks like "Gaia Bleeds (Make Way For Man)" don't fit in at all.

Still, despite being much poppier than their debut, Mutiny, this album should still have 15-year-old scene kids in a frenzy. "The Few That Remain" is just one example of whiny vocals set to layered palm muting shouldn't sound good, but in practice works well, especially during Williams' spots. While tracks like "Summer Jam" and "The Fallen..." are fun, you wouldn't listen to this past high school, especially since the subject matter is typical teen angst fare (don't let people tear you down, kids).

It's definitely a development from Mutiny, especially in the standout closing track "Our Ethos: A Legacy To Pass On," but it relies too heavily on its guests in order to shine, making it something of a cop out. If every track were more like the closing number, then maybe the album name wouldn't seem so questionable.

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