The Mayday Parade - A Lesson In Romantics (Fearless) At first sight the signs do not look promising for US emo boys The Mayday Parade. They lose points almost instantaneously for their seemingly meaningless song titles (“Champagne’s For Celebrating (I’ll Have A Martini)”), at times they suffer from excruciatingly bad lyrics (‘You opened my arms, and we laughed as I held you, I’ll never go back to Georgia, not at least until I have too’ in “Jamie All Over”) and at other moments there is a desperate need to seriously man up (see “Miserable At Best” for the worst offender). Yet when all seems lost, they are rescued by Derek Sanders strong vocals, and huge, almost annoying catchy, soaring choruses. “Ocean And Atlantic” and “If You Wanted A Song Written About You, All You Had To Do Was Ask” are the real stand outs and it becomes hard not to give them a grudging nod of approval. On the face of it however, this is relatively routine stuff which has been done a thousand times before, their lack of originality and their unwavering reliance on the genre’s clichés will make it difficult for them to receive any airplay on Radio 1, this sort of sound is best handled by their contemporaries such as Paramore. In reality, this album could be an El Dorado for Fall Out Boy devotees looking for something with a bit more of an ‘edge’, for the rest of the world, The Mayday Parade will most likely pass silently by. Michael B. Next Past Reviews: March 07, April 07, May 07, June/July 07, Sept/Oct 07, Dec07, Jan08, Feb 08, Mar 08