The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus - Lonely Road

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus - Lonely Road

Release date: February 3, 2009

What does a band do to follow up on a debut album that unexpectedly yields two chart-topping hits and sells hundreds of thousands of copies?  Usually one of two things: they either stick religiously to the formula that brought them success and create a carbon-copy of their debut, or they take advantage of the expanded resources their success affords them and throw as many new ideas into the mix as possible.  These two approaches both have their risks, and every band is slightly better suited to one than the other.

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus’s sophomore album, Lonely Road, is an excellent illustration of this principle, and serves as a great example of what not to do with your follow-up record.  The pop-screamo act saw a great deal of success with their energetic, youthful, and really quite good debut, 2006‘s Don’t You Fake It.  They’ve clearly opted for the second approach to making a follow-up album on Lonely Road; unfortunately, RJA would have been much wiser to stick with the first.  Whenever the band strays from their signature sound, a sprightly mix of down-tuned, metallic guitars and pop-punk melodies, they sound awkward and unsure of themselves.  The band experiments with slower groove-rock riffs on “Pull Me Back” and opener “You Better Pray,” lightens their approach in a clear attempt to score another crossover hit on songs like “Believe” and “Step Right Up,” and further complicates matters by throwing in an orchestra on the pandering military ballad “Godspeed” and even a gospel choir on the Southern-rock-flavored title track.  None of these explorations seem remotely natural to the band, and it’s clear that they were reaching pretty hard to come up with as may new ideas as possible, rather than making sure the experiments actually worked.

It’s when the band sticks to its strengths that the material improves.  When RJA focuses on the same style that clicked on their debut album, they sound much more self-assured, as on a pair of songs toward the album’s beginning, “No Spell” and “Pen & Paper.”  Their songwriting is much more solid when they do what they do best instead of focusing on expanding their sonic palette.  RJA is a young band, with most of their members barely out of high school, and odds are they have a long career ahead of them.  They do deserve some credit for being willing to try new things and change their sound up from song to song.  But unless their sonic experimentation yields good results, it can’t be considered anything but a failure.

2/5

Standout Tracks:

• “Pen & Paper”
• “No Spell”
• “Pleads And Postcards”