Sound the Alarm: Stay Inside

Sound the Alarm
Stay Inside
Geffen
2007-07-17

While Pennsylvania teenage rockers Sound the Alarm look like they would opt for the latest Incubus release over any Nine Days record, their music tells a different story. And that’s good; real good. Because on their debut album Stay Inside, the fellows from Eastern PA bring back the good old days of one hit wonder pop rock in the most flattering way possible. Songs like “Suffocating”, “Closer”, “Fact or Fiction”, and “Picture Perfect” are supposed to turn up on a modern rock radio station near you this summer. “Stay Inside”, possibly the album’s best track, combines everything modern pop rock is supposed to be — some Diffuser, a little Stroke 9, and a whole lot of the aforementioned Nine Days. And while Sound the Alarm may feel like those one hit wonders, they do have one thing going for them that the others didn’t: age. So while the bands from the late ’90s that faded into pop rock obscurity are memorizing the line “Do you want fries with that?” Sound the Alarm still have a shot at maintaining longevity. And considering the promise that Stay Inside makes, the boys from Pennsylvania shouldn’t have to worry about things like fast food for a long time to come.

RATING 7 / 10