I've said this for the last week and meant it. Listening to Nothing Personal makes me love life. The positive vibes from "Weightless" is the most realistic "I'm going to make it song" I've heard in a long time, "maybe it's not my weekend, but it's going to be my year," has spun through my head since the first time I heard the track weeks ago--the perfect opening track to the best All Time Low album in four years.
This album's sound and energy is similar to one of the best albums of 2008: Skip School, Start Fights. Psuedo pop punk break downs, claps in less obvious places, and gang vocals sprinkled in every track. "Damned If I Do Ya" is a perfect example of this. All Time Low has learned to harmonize without an auto-tuned robotic sound and incorporated their influences without blatantly ripping them off.
Speaking of influences, if you combine Pete Wentz & co. mixed with a bit of Cobra Starship, throw in a city roll call list similar to "Heart of Rock n Roll" you have "Hello, Brooklyn." One of the few tracks on the album that makes me roll my eyes from the unoriginality, "Let the good times roll. We can let go. Everybody knows there's a party at the end of the world." ...seriously? Tracks eight and nine slow down the party vibe of the album and sounds like the end of an epic night. ("Too Much" gets a bit 'much' around 4 minutes, though). The album that began with the summer anthem of "Weightless" ends on the chilled vibe of "Therapy," the two tracks opposite in every way.
Although the songs on Nothing Personal are not as distinct as it's predisessors they are overall much better, much older, and slightly more reflective. The album shows a range of emotions that go beyond a crazy night to the "whatthefuckhappened" mornings, and how that night may have changed everything. *Insert obligatory Nothing Personal joke here*
4 out of 5 [CO]