Watch life try and catch up...
It appears that there is more to Tennessee than Ten Gallon hats and whisky. Paramore are an incredibly young and hard rocking band that are a mixture of label-mates Fall Out Boy and Canadian sk8ter girl Avril Lavigne.
First song and album title song 'All We Know' has big riffs that switch back and forth between chugging guitars, and big air-guitar arm-swing riffs. Hayley Williams is a 17 year old with a voice that is a lot bigger, bolder and more mature than the little thing that it is belted out from. This is also their new single which will be available as a download only.
Second song 'Pressure' has more big pop/punk riffs that are still deep and heavy enough to be more metal than pop. It's almost like they've listened to some of Avril's faster and rockier songs and thought that perhaps this was what the album should be built around, and not added to bulk around slow-piano-ballads. The closest that we get to a ballad is the penultimate song 'Franklin' which is the town that Paramore come from, which still has a drum roll in the background, and then the last song 'My heart' which is almost a power ballad.
'Emergency' flips nicely between clear punchy vocals and screaming bridge. "I think that we have an emergency" Hayley screams, but this can only be a good thing! 'Brighter' sees them really getting into their stride and really enjoying a heavier song which should have any doubters looking at other bands to mock. It's worth mentioning that I've read comments like how they are very young and therefore have immense pressure on future releases . I'd have to question this, as this is a great debut album, so the only pressures that they should encounter would be succeeding with the obligatory 'problematic second album' that a lot of bands fail on. I don't subscribe to accusations that Paramore are a pop/punk by numbers band, as there are no real harmonies, and there are more intelligent musical performances and thoughtful lyrics, like 'Never Let This Go' which starts off slowly and builds up into a great song.
'Whoa' is slightly more pop-py, and 'Conspiracy' brings us back up to a clear rock level. Paramore are touring until the proverbial moo-machines come home, including the UK, and a stint in the famous Vans sponsored Warped Tour, which will no doubt expose them to the world (or the music buying Americans, at any rate).
Paramore may well have comparisons by myself to Avril Lavigne which may or may not be fully justified, but if your biggest comparison is to a very successful and talented original individual, then there can be nothing left to say but well done. Paramore as a band could be best described as Avril Lavigne with big balls and charisma transplant. Good stuff!