Yellowcard - When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes Review

Ryan Key – Guitar & Vocals
Sean Mackin – Violin & Vocals
Longineu Parsons – Drums
Ryan Mendez – Guitar
Sean O’Donnell – Bass

As Yellowcard’s 7^th album kicks off, it’s easy to feel the experience they’ve gained over their 14 year existence. Based around the theme of love, When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes, is a great all-round album, encompassing aspects of love such as leaving your special person (For You And Your Denial), being with them (With You Around), and feeling them fade away (Hang You Up). Credit is well deserved to Ryan Key, whose vocals are always clear and easy to understand, even when all instruments are fired up and blaring out the speakers.

The Sound Of You And Me is a great start to the album, the guitars being melodic and drums rapid but not overpowering. The bass flows seamlessly and blends softly into the song. The latter part of the song is more relaxed and complements the heavier parts well, fading seamlessly into the next song.

Starting out with beautiful violin playing, For You And Your Denial builds rapidly. The guitars and bass drown the violin out a bit too much, I think a little restraint on other instruments would have been beneficial. Ryan sings with plenty of emotion, suiting the stronger drum playing and the clever use of backing vocals.

With You Around boasts a strong, flowing pace which builds and falls effortlessly throughout the song. The more chugging bass complements the vocals well, and is a highly satisfying sing-along song, making this my favourite one on the album. This contrasts brilliantly with Hang You Up; it’s a much slower and softer song with vocals matching the flowing melody. Using “Still” at the end of every verse gives a very different tone to the song, making it sound sad and emotional.

Pumping the album back up again, Life Of Leaving Home features chugging bass and a much stronger style of drum playing. Considering the pace of the song, I felt the longer pauses between verses didn’t suit the melody; however the guitar playing is more technical than that of many other songs on the album, and the ending is fitting to the style of the song.

Soundtrack and Sing For Me are two highly contrasting songs, the former being incredibly punchy and strong with harmonious guitars, and the latter sporting light drumming and soft guitar playing. Factoring in Ryan’s higher pitched vocal style, I felt Sing For Me could have benefitted with a smidgen of bass, whereas Soundtrack remains well balanced throughout its stay.

After witnessing the skills the band is able to present, I found Be The Young a slightly underwhelming end to the album. The vocals are well pronounced and the guitar playing is impressive enough for it to be a good song, but other songs are more memorable and fun to listen to.

Every song on Yellowcard’s new album is bursting with energy and emotion, making When You’re Though Thinking, Say Yes generally impressive, but with a few small changes, it could have been an outstanding album.