Florida rockers Mayday Parade bare their feelings with staggering honesty on What It Means To Fall Apart, which is an album that documents and highlights personal strife. The listener will almost feel the crash, the turmoil boil up, and the dreams cascade. In the past, Mayday Parade played and wrote happier songs, songs that may have been too jubilant. But, with this LP, we’re taken into a more sombre world, where hearts shudder under the weight.

Musically, the album points to rock formula with pop punk undertones. This has always been the case, and it works for a band that has been in the limelight for a long time now, stretching out for the cause. Since 2007, the band has garnered a massive following, and their music may not be for everyone’s taste, but you cannot dismiss their popularity and work ethic.

What It Means To Fall Apart manages to catch you off guard on several occasions, and it’s diverse enough to count. It isn’t an album of ground-breaking songs, but one that keeps the interest. It won’t litter the scene with golden grandiosity either, which, in truth, doesn’t really matter.

Lyrically there has been an upgrade. Lost love still takes centre stage, but there has been a drastic change in direction and subject. Lead singer Derek Sanders, has been revitalised, and sings these words with expert precision. The style has altered, there’s no doubting that, and the lyrics paint pictures of not so beautiful times.

Kids Of Summer begins the record. Sanders sings with impact and the rousing guitars add a crash of welcomed sound. The lyrics detail depressive moments. Think Of You is an acoustic track of sweet moments. Lyrically, it is poetic and shows the song writing has been developed even further. The chorus pinpoints every lasting dream. Bad At Love is another melancholic, driven, track that engages and draws out feelings which haven’t been explored in a while. Musically, the percussion shows through, and the guitars dash in and out.

Mayday Parade has created an album of love being torn apart. It is stretch forward musically and lyrically for the band too.      

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