The All-American Rejects: Surprise of the year

I'm gonna edge away from the emo a bit here, because I've been a little heavy on it here lately. Anyways, I just got the new All-American Rejects CD about a week and a half ago from a friend for my birthday. I had wanted it, but I didn't expect this.

The All-American Rejects
Move Along

Grade: A-

Color me impressed. Remember when I said how amazingly surprised I was by how much I liked Rise Against's Siren Song of the Counter Culture? It now takes a second place to the surprise of this one. I've always like The All-American Rejects. Despite a slightly poppish sound (I actually don't like Swing, Swing), their self-titled debut is one of my guilty pleasures. The music was simple while the vocals were often complex, and even though the album definitely had a formula to its songs, I found it very enjoyable. Enter Move Along, and you'll see how much AAR has grown as a band between two albums.
The current single, Dirty Little Secret, sounds very much like The All-American Rejects you know and love or hate, which is why it's deceptive in its sound, even though I find it enjoyable myself. This album sounds almost like a new band, and yet it won't leave their old fans disappointed. There's a new direction to their sound, as everyone is more comfortable with their instruments (they're generally better at playing all around), and clearly have found a new influence of the likes of some of the good ol' 90's bands like Third Eye Blind and Better Than Ezra.
The album starts its unique sound on track 2, Stab My Back, which caught me offguard as sounding more straight rock than anything I had heard from them in the past. It then really hits its stride in the next two tracks, Move Along and the beautiful ballad It Ends Tonight, which flawlessly combines the sounds of a piano ballad in the beginning and goes into driven yet subdued guitars and a nice string arrangement; this track alone gives the album most of its depth. This is followed up by a song with an intro so silly I thought this song was gonna be a crappy filler before the sound did a complete 180, turning out to be one of the album's better songs. The album charges on, barely loosing any steam on the rest of the tracks, only faltering on a few like Night Drive.
This is currently one of my most played CDs in my collection right now. I expected this to be an alright album, but it's full of wonderfully crafted songs that have given me an immense new respect for the band. Importantly, even if you didn't like the last album, or all you know of AAR is Swing, Swing and Dirty Little Secret, and don't like those either, this album's worth checking out. Odds are, you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Best Tracks: Move Along, It Ends Tonight, Change Your Mind, Straightjacket Feeling