Posted on: October 29, 2007 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

The Dangerous Summer – If You Could Only Keep Me Alive / 2007 Hopeless / 7 Tracks / http://www.hopelessrecords.com / http://www.myspace.com/dangeroussummer /

“I Would Stay” starts out “If You Could Only Keep Me Alive”, and starts out slowly. The band kicks into gear soon after, and the Taking Back Sunday meets MxPx style of the vocals move away from their stark sound into meshing well with the instrumentation. “I Would Stay” is the perfect summer song, a track that individuals could lean back and drink a beer to. The band is well-balanced, with all constituent parts of The Dangerous Summer (bass, drums, guitar, and vocals) shining at different points. The band actually succeeds in putting forth a strong effort despite the fact that the opening track of the disc is the longest on the disc; usually bands fail in that they cannot provide an interesting opening to the album. Not only does The Dangerous Summer makes individuals interested, they do it with a track that is fraught with peril.

“The Permanent Rain” is another impressive track by the band, with a high amount of energy and a set of vocals that will get individuals singing along after the first few listens. The band’s vocalist approaches the style of Say Anything’s lead, but throws in just enough Rise Against to make each track on “If You Could Only Keep Me Alive” special. “Here We Are After Dark” is not as immediately catchy as either “I Would Stay” and “The Permanent Rain” but rapidly matches and exceeds the prior tracks after the band goes full bore, straight-forward. Hopeless has a tremendous A&R department; The Dangerous Summer now and Amber Pacific before that shows that the label knows what they are doing. Far from making this review a Hopeless circle jerk, The Dangerous Summer are the next Yellowcard, the next Amber Pacific, and I would be DAMN  surprised if their stock doesn’t rise considerably given the amazing music on this EP.

Top Track: Here We Are After Dark

Rating: 8.4/10

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