Gasoline (All Rage Still Only Numb) It’s hard to find a more consistent and hard-working band than Story of the Year. The band has steadily cranked out six previous albums that each have their own personality and highlight Story of the Year’s ability to convey a wide range of emotions through relatable topics. The band shared, “In a lot of ways, A.R.S.O.N. picks up where Tear Me To Pieces left off. We used the same team – Colin Brittain producing again, with the main objective of simply writing great songs. Nothing was forced, no trends were chased, it was simply about getting to the essence of what makes SOTY sound like SOTY: Big guitars, snappy drums, and Dan’s ability to seamlessly oscillate between screaming & singing songs about desperation, loss, and the complexity of relationships.” This encapsulation of the sound Story of the Year were going for on A.R.S.O.N. makes a lot of sense, as the band continues down a familiar path, but with a more hard-hitting urgency. With the incorporation of heavier riffs and a more profound focus on screamed vocals when it makes sense for the songs, their seventh studio album is arguably their hardest-hitting record since In The Wake of Determination.
The record blasts off on the right foot with the wailing guitar tone found on lead single, “Gasoline (All Rage Still Only Numb)” as Dan Marsala leads the call to arms as he sings with urgency in the chorus, “Fuck it up, burn it down / Cover it all in gasoline / Light the match, turn around / Level it all and flee the scene / Choke it in, spit it out / Make a nightmare into a dream / Cover it all in gasoline.” It’s easy to relate to the feelings that Dan and his bandmates are experiencing given the state of the world today, where it feels like we need to burn things down and start over. The punishing guitars continue on “Disconnected,” but the smooth croon of vocals on the verses provide the audience with a moment to vibe with the band before bleeding into an anthemic pre-chorus to chorus section. The pre-chorus of, “I would die a million times / To feel the way I did one time / I wish that I could make you see / It’s not the way it had to be,” is about the complexities of relationships, while the band’s crisp songwriting pays off on another great track.
”See Through” begins with a spiraling guitar riff and punishing drums (from Josh Wills), while Marsala explains his visions of what’s right in front of him in the lyrics. As the song unfolds, it builds up to a pop-centered chorus of, “Just let me close my eyes / ‘Cause I don’t know what I might do / If I don’t see you / Just let me close my eyes / If I see someone that’s not you / Who knows what I might.” The song eventually adds in some screams to keep it balanced with the rest of the material. “Fall Away” follows in the sequencing with a rare collaboration from Story of the Year, this time with Papa Roach’s Jacoby Shaddix. As Jacoby adds in rapped verses, Marsala croons in the background before the two talented vocalists harmonize on the chorus to showcase each of their strengths. The song helps with breaking up some of the similar song structures that are apparent in A.R.S.O.N., and adds a nice flavor of variety into the mix to keep fans guessing on where the album will go next.
”3 am” features a blend of screams and singing on both the verses and choruses, while the guitar parts from Ryan Phillips remain interesting and well-executed. Marsala’s lyrics find him at odds within a fractured relationship as he admits, “Every single phone call leaves me broken / Lying here a thousand miles away / It’s spinning like a record in my head / The things I should change / Try not to think about it.” The self-doubt begins to creep into the track’s material, and it highlights the human element behind so much of Story of the Year’s great discography.
”Into The Dark” is another hard-hitting song that only briefly adds moments to take a breath between Marsala’s screams on the verses, while the chorus provides another opportunity for a sing-a-long section in the band’s set. The lyrics dive into the darkest of feelings that can dominate our headspace if we let them in, and it makes for another relatable feeling in the material. “My Religion” is a pretty cool song that is structured around a frenetic drum beat from Wills, while Marsala croons over both acoustic and electric guitars about his take on his type of spirituality that he’s finding within someone. The band does a really good job of mixing up the sounds found on A.R.S.O.N., even when the song structures are largely the same throughout.
”Halos” features an abrasive screamed/sung pre-chorus of “This madness in my head / Will leave me broken again / Face down on the pavement / Reaching for halos or the end,” while the chorus lifts the listener up to a better place in its smooth delivery. The guitar solo from Phillips is top notch here, and it rocks with both a purpose and urgency behind it. The different beat found on “Good For Me / Feel So Bad” is replicated in the guitar bounce found before the opening verse, while the chorus dives headfirst into the topic of mental health. Marsala croons, “Sometimes, I’m scared / I’ll hurt myself / I’m still so lost / And overwhelmed / Since you’ve been gone from my life, all I’ve been is sad / If it’s good for me, why does it feel so bad?” to bring us in closer to his state of mind without the person he needs to feel centered.
The acoustic guitar ballad of “Better Than High” feels a bit our of place with the punishing material that precedes it, but it features a memorable bridge and lyric of “Even if there’s no God / There’s still a point to love.” The point of being a good person, regardless of what awaits us after we die, is an important concept of making the best of the time we have on Earth, and the people we make a positive impact on is what will live on long after we’re gone. The album wraps up with the power ballad of sorts in “I Don’t Wanna Feel Like This Anymore” that sounds just like what you would expect Story of the Year to be capable of creating with a litany of touring experience and songwriting prowess under their belt. The song’s chorus is about being away from the one person that makes us feel most at “home” with ourselves, and the feeling of being lost when apart from them. The bridge of, “I can’t go back, I don’t know what to do / I don’t want to wake up when I’m dreaming of you / This can’t be real, tell me this isn’t true / Tell me this isn’t true,” finds Marsala coming to grips with loss and wanting to awake from the nightmare he’s experiencing in real time.
There’s a lot to love and enjoy on A.R.S.O.N. that showcases why Story of the Year is one of the more reliably great bands in our scene. The lyrics dive into relatable anxieties of love and loss, while exploring the depths of our thoughts that make us all human through the key connections we make with each other. The incorporation of more screamed vocals into the mix may be a bit jarring for longtime listeners, but who hasn’t wanted to give out a full blast wail given the state of things today? Story of the Year continue to impress on their seventh studio album, and show little signs of slowing down anytime soon.