Something Corporate - North

Here's where Something Corporate messed with something that was working fine. Normally that's bad news, but somehow North is still very enjoyable. My main problem with this album is that Something Corporate tried to go for a pop-punk anthem with every track. That's not a bad thing in and of itself, but in doing it they slapped an All-American Rejects-style glossy sheen on the album and it killed some of the more nuanced elements of the band (specifically, the piano on North is only half as interesting as the piano on Leaving Through the Window). So instead of being the greatest pop-punk meets piano-rock album ever, North is merely a very good pop punk album. That's not a bad thing, but knowing what could have been makes it a slight disappointment.