Story of the Year’s new album creatively stifled

When a band is trying to make a statement or send a message, there can be a number of ways to go about doing it: a hilariously satirical music video, a chorus of chanting from each of the band members or even a chanting chorus from children. Pink Floyd got it right when they used the Islington Green School’s choir for “Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2,” as did P.O.D. in their 2002 hit “Youth of the Nation.”

Now it is Story of the Year’s turn to give the concept a whirl. Their fourth studio release, “The Constant,” kicks off in just that fashion with a chorus of children singing the aptly titled “The Children Sing,” their chants repeating, “Don’t take this world away from me,” a fond message I’m sure all of us have thought at one point or another. . I guess with that kind of power and control out of the hands of children, the only thing left to do is sing about it.

The rest of the album reflects similar ideas of growing old, failure to capture dreams and the fate of life as they know it. Reflections of life on the road are also prevalent in songs “Ten Years Down” and “Time Goes On.” These themes tend to appear throughout all of SOTY’s albums, each molded slightly differently than the one before it. Their lyrics, however, don’t seem to propose much of a plan to do something about our own destruction; rather, they just keep on singing about it.

Even though this CD has not necessarily lived up to the expectations the band set for themselves with hit albums prior to this, I can at least attest to the fact that SOTY always puts on a fantastic stage show. So don’t take my word on a review of this CD, but definitely take my word on this; if you get a chance, go see them live in concert. They’ve been touring for 15 years now and you will not leave disappointed.

Critic’s Conclusion: Overall, “The Constant” is not as impressive as their other albums. None of the songs really jump out at me like the hard-hitting songs on the albums they have composed in the past. It’s worth a couple of listens, but the classics they’ve already been rocking out for the past decade provide more. It’s nice to see a band change for the better in their career, but sometimes when a band changes their sound or style, they suffer backlash from disappointed fans. In this case, SOTY fans can rest easy knowing their favorite St. Louis band is still the same as they were yesterday. C