Now anyone who knows me will know that Motion City Soundtrack have been one of my favourite bands for a couple of years now since first seeing them live supporting The All American Rejects and being so impressed that I picked up a copy of their debut album ‘I Am The Movie’ at the gig and that CD rarely left my CD player for the next 6 months after. ‘Commit This To Memory is the band’s second album and has been one album I have been looking forward to for a long long time. The album is produced by Blink 182’s Mark Hoppus and it is the first album he has produced and I know a lot of people were worried that he would turn MCS into another Blink sound-alike but I have to say he has done a brilliant job on this album.

Motion City Soundtrack haven’t lost any of their spark that made their debut album so amazing and this album is simply brilliant. Straight from the energetic two minute opener of ‘Attractive Today’, MCS go out all guns blazing. Next up is ‘Everything Is Alright’ which is a catchy poppy number that will get people singing and dancing along from the start and is one of the best songs on the album. The fun doesn’t stop there though as next is ‘When You’re Around’ which is a song that first appeared on the acoustic MCS split with Matchbook Romance, this version though is the full on rock version and is another energetic and amazing pop-punk track. However at this point we haven’t even got to my two favourite songs from this album, which are ‘Feel Like Rain’ and ‘Make Out Kids’. ‘Feel Like Rain’ is an emotionally charged track which is a simply beautiful and amazing song and Justin Pierre’s vocals sound as amazing as ever on this one. ‘Make Out Kids’ is totally different and is just a really fun song which contains possibly the greatest moog part from any MCS song ever.

The second half of the album kicks off with ‘Time Turn Fragile’ which is a really summery song that I can just imagine myself driving around listening to in the hot weather with my windows down and singing along. The next song is the interestingly titled ‘Lets Get Fucked Up And Die’ which is a slower song with a bit of acoustic guitar but doesn’t by any means dampen the mood as its another great song and still has the moog in full force towards the end of the song. ‘Better Open The Door’ is another song that has the signature MCS sound and will have everyone tapping their feet along to the beat. The last couple of songs are slower songs like ‘Together We’ll Ring In The New Year’ and the final track ‘Hold Me Down’. ‘Together We’ll Ring In The New Year’ is a good track but the final track ‘Hold Me Down’ is amazing and I can’t think of a better track to end the album on. It is another truly beautiful song and Justin Pierre’s vocals have never sounded better than on this melodic masterpiece.

Some people may think I have been a bit biased in this review as Motion City Soundtrack are one of my favourite bands. However how many times have you been in love with a band because a particular album that they made and then you have been totally disappointed with their follow up album. It has happened to me more times than I can remember but this time one of my favourite bands has come back with an album that is just as good if not better than the previous and this has just made me so happy. ‘Commit This To Memory’ is a truly brilliant album that is one of my favourite albums of 2005 thus far and really proves that Motion City Soundtrack are here to stay for a while yet.

The new Motion City Soundtrack album ‘Commit This To Memory’ is due out on June 7 th 2005 . To find out more about Motion City Soundtrack - Click Here