Much has been made about All Time Low’s short time spent on the major label, DGC Records (or Interscope Records), back in 2011. Were there too many cooks in the kitchen? Absolutely. Did the resulting album, Dirty Work, lack the spark that the band usually bring to the table? Well, yes and no. It’s easy to focus on Dirty Work’s negatives (as they were numerous), but the album also delivered some of the band’s best work to date—“Guts,” “Under a Paper Moon” and “Heroes” are all essential. In 2012, however, the band took control of their career again, signed back with Hopeless Records, and they’ve created Don’t Panic, an album that drops any of the pandering Pop-Radio bait and rightly focuses on the band’s strong suit—upbeat, catchy Pop-Punk indebted to Blink-182, New Found Glory and Jimmy Eat World with lyrics that actually mean something.
Don’t Panic almost feels like a “greatest hits” album in that the songs touch on all elements of ATL’s career to date. “So Long, Soldier” is a blisteringly fast Skate-Punk tune with killer vocal harmonies reminiscent of early Yellowcard. “Backseat Serenade” is a muscular love song (“You send me reeling/Calling out to you for more/The value of this moment lives in metaphor”) with an instrumental section that brings to mind some of Blink 182’s best buildups (“Adam’s Song,” anyone?). To those members of the Overcast Kids still wishing for a Fall Out Boy reunion, "Outlines” should scratch that itch—co-written by Patrick Stump, the track is a slick, sassy Pop-Punk number that could’ve come from Folie à Deux. (Guest vocals from Jason Vena, of Acceptance, make the chorus pop, but we wish Stump himself would’ve sang the hook instead.)
“Thanks to You” is really the quintessential example of what All Time Low ca. 2012 should sound like. It starts off with a great, ’90s-alt-rock guitar lead before settling into a bouncy, mid-tempo groove with Alex Gaskarth emoting, “But there’s this ringing in my head/As the ghost of you hangs over my bed/Thanks to you, I’m not myself/I’m all strung out/That much is clear.” It’s a perfect example of the band fusing together their increased musical prowess and knack for vocal earworms with the lyrical passion so evident on their early work that fell more and more by the wayside the bigger the band got.
In 2013, they made a re-release with four new songs and four acoustic tracks. The acoustic tracks All Time Low did were pretty much their hit singles from the album... which were "The Reckless & The Brave", "For Baltimore", "Somewhere in Neverland", and "Backseat Serenade". The four new songs were "A Love Like War (feat. Vic Fuentes of Pierce The Veil)", "Me Without You (All I Ever Wanted), "Canals", and my favorite, "Oh, Calamity!"
The album is amazing, but it has some flaws, though; “The Irony of Choking on a Lifesaver” feels a little too easy considering how far the band have progressed, and album closer “So Long, & Thanks for All the Booze” features some speedy double-time parts but isn’t as memorable as it’s side A counterpart, “So Long, Soldier.” However, neither of these are as skippable as, say, “Hello, Brooklyn” or “That Girl,” which once again shows the band are improving, even in their weaker areas.
Don’t Panic might not become Hustler Club members’ all-time favorite All Time Low record due to the nostalgia associated with So Wrong, It’s Right or Nothing Personal, but from a purely musical standpoint, there’s no question that this is All Time Low’s best work to date. It’s mightily impressive how far Gaskarth & Co. have come since 2007; and here’s looking forward to Last Young Renegade this summer.
Rating: 4.5 / 5 Stars
