18 years. There’s something a bit romantic about the amount of time that it took The Starting Line to follow up 2007’s brilliant LP of Direction. While turning 18 years old seems to signify our final path towards adulthood and leaving our youth behind, the reality behind this landmark age is that our lives are just beginning. Eternal Youth comes at just the right moment in time for our scene that is experiencing another surge and resurgence with bands like Motion City Soundtrack, Yellowcard, and now The Starting Line making new music again that is both worthy of their past legacy, while simultaneously moving the needle of creativity forward in their musical journey. The Starting Line first arrived in the pop-punk scene with Say It Like You Mean It, a widely adored scene staple via Drive-Thru Records, and yet it made sense for the band to outgrow that genre with stylistic choices made on Based on a True Story and eventually Direction. Eternal Youth signifies the band recognizing that the pop-punk genre is reminiscent of, as Kenny Vasoli put it in an interview I conducted with him in 2022: “I do know that we’re a pop punk band. And it’s a genre that sort of represents nostalgia and eternal youth, which I’m totally able to appreciate.” Wait, did Kenny drop the name of his returning LP for all the world to see and we all missed it until now? Eternal Youth to me represents the best version of The Starting Line, and I’m so happy that they’re back.

This summer reads like a pop fan’s wet-dream.

We find July bringing the trifecta of “must-own” summer albums to a close. For those who lean toward the pop persuasion, The Starting Line will come as a fitting end to a two week burst of purchases that is sure to include multiple trips to the record store in search of Yellowcard and MxPx. This gives you two full weeks to play both of the aforementioned albums – because once you’ve purchased Direction, it’s unlikely to leave your stereo for quite some time.

Okay, so let’s start with what we know:

1. I’m a huge pop-punk kid. It’s the musical style I started listening to back in the day with MxPx and Blink-182. As much as musical purists will complain and moan, it’s the truth, and it’s my roots.
2. I have been a pretty big fan of The Starting Line from their We the People Sessions back a few years now; however, everyone knows I was let down by their first full-length (Say It Like You Mean It) because I loathed some of the production by Mark Trombino.

I know, I know, so many people disagree with me on that one – but this is my vindication. The Starting Line return May 10th with their new full-length, Based on a True Story, produced by Tim O’Heir – and after hearing this album, it makes me bitter to think how the band’s last album may have sounded without Trombino on the dials. Yet, it makes me incredibly happy to finally have a CD that maximizes everything I’ve wanted this band to be for the past 4 years.

Let me start out by saying that I love The Starting Line and have loved all their previous releases (even the little known about We The People Sessions that DTR keeps under lock and key for whenever they need an ‘unreleased’ track) – and no matter what I may say in the next few paragraphs, this is a great CD — if you are a pop-punk fan at all — you will love the new TSL CD, I promise.

The album starts out with a tribute to Blink-182’s “Anthem Part II” — wait, just kidding, it just reminds me of how Blink’s TOYPAJ started. With that behind us, we start out with one of the best tracks on the album, “Up and Go” — does just that, it picks up and takes the listener on a ride through the ups and downs of the song. Great opener track. The second track on the album is a really good song, with good guitar lines, killer drums … and all that; my only beef is the lyrics. I have always loved Ken’s writing, and thought it was the best part of this band, but for a debut full length I find it funny that there is a song saying thanks to the fans. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s awesome that they did it — but I mean, I could see Aerosmith doing something like that, not The Starting Line. Track 3 is the new “Leaving,” sounds good — if you liked the old one, you will like the new one. The next track is “Best Of Me” – it’s the best song on the album; hands down one of the best songs they have ever done.