Mayday Parade - A Lesson in Romantics

This hurts me more than I can stand to say in just one sitting, croons Derek Sanders on power ballad Walk On Water Or Drown. Sure enough, he and his band recycle the same idea - namely heartbreak - throughout the entirety of this deeply disappointing debut. With the emo turned up well beyond eleven, Mayday Parade produce 13 anthem-lite tracks; all of which try to outdo one another in the show-stopping stakes. Inevitably, this all gets pretty wearing after a very short while and the most remarkable thing about the album emerges to be the length of the song titles. For example, You Be The Anchor That Keeps My Feet On The Ground, I'll Be The Wings That Keep Your Heart In The Clouds is the snappily-titled track that closes. The Floridian quintet clearly weren't paying for the in-sleeve by the word. As for a Lesson In Romantics? These boys need to go back to school. [Neal Parsons]