Since 2008, Sydney’s Tonight Alive have been riding an incredible wave and their second album, ‘The Other Side’, will see them reach even higher. These confident, catchy and polished tracks are primed for the mainstream and international stardom. Naturally this will appeal to the next generation of rock-friendly radio listener but there’s also enough here to entertained the seasoned pop-punk fans.
Tracks such as ‘The Ocean’ and ‘Hell And Back’ have those massive sing-along choruses that you belt out with your friends and that’s certainly much of the appeal here. They’re 3 minutes of inoffensive alt-rock with creditable guitar and drum work mixed with huge charisma in the female lead vocals. However if you dig a little deeper you find that some of the slower burning tracks, most notably ‘Come Home’, are really where this album grabs hold of you. It’s these subtle and well-crafted moments where Tonight Alive really convinces you that they’re worth your attention.
There’s also plenty of room for improvement with Tonight Alive and lyrically the band could be stronger at times. Whilst there’s nothing cheesy or overly clichéd here, they can lack those memorable few lines that we all love. Some of the closing moments of ‘The Other Side’ would certainly benefit from this, ‘No Different’ and ‘Say Please’ are solid efforts without any truly repeatable highlights.
There’s always a danger that female fronted alt-rock bands will be hit with the ‘next Paramore’ tag. It’s the easy option isn’t it? With Jenna McDougall’s powerful vocals drawing favourable comparisons to other well-known front women I can see why it’s done. It does feel like we could do with hearing more from the supporting vocals at times in truth. A really gripping dual vocal on a track or two would give a more complete sound. Even without this Tonight Alive deserve more than a lazy comparison though.
With the look, the tour support, the celebrity associations and the label backing absolutely nailed, Tonight Alive’s ‘The Other Side’ is the final piece of the jigsaw. This Australian quintet are the next break through band.
TOM BECK