Review by Mark Ventrice

RIYL: New Found Glory, Cartel, The Spill Canvas

Recommended Tracks: “Anything At All” “It’s A Pleasure To Meet You” “Lose Control”

Grade: A

After three years, Motion City Soundtrack are back and sounding as good as ever. Panic Stations is their sixth studio album and their first since 2012. Consensus is that their second album, Commit This To Memory, was their best album, but this one fights up for that spot.

“Anything At All” features Justin Pierre’s signature vocals at their best, a theme that persists among the rest of the album. The chorus on this track is very catchy and hooky and everything else fits in just like a puzzle. This is the quintessential Motion City Soundtrack song.

“Lose Control” is almost the opposite. Justin Pierre is still on key with these vocals but this track has far less instrumentation on it and instead uses more of the keyboard that Motion City Soundtrack uses in some other songs.

“It’s A Pleasure To Meet You” is kind of a mix between the two. There is a lot of good instrumentation throughout the song but the electronic keyboard is also present. Justin Pierre hits every note perfectly making this one of the most clean sounding songs on the album and one of the best songs the band has put out in years.

Panic Stations is Motion City Soundtrack at a level we haven’t seen in many years. This is one of their best albums and one of the best albums to come out this year. When the album’s worst sin is that there are a few tracks that are forgettable at worst, you know it’s something special.