Album: The Next Time You See Sky
Band: Mace Ballard
Reviewer: Jaysen Gold
Rating: 4 out of 5
Tracklist for “The Next Time You See Sky” is as follows:
- A Beginner’s Guide to Beginnings
- Close Reading [Explicit]
- Amateur Astronomy
- Fight at the Museum
- Treasure Chest Target Practice
- Once Upon an Instant
- Research in Commotion [Explicit]
- Time Machines Exist
- When Were We Emergencies?
- South Side Department of Tourism
- If We Make it to the Midwest [Explicit]
- Words with Friends
- Remainders
If you’re a fan of Green Day, All American Rejects and New Found Glory and are looking for something new to sink your teeth in to, head over to itunes right now and buy the new album from the Pittsburgh based band Mace Ballard. Mace Ballard has 1210 Facebook likes, they’ve opened for some of today’s hottest pop punk acts and are in the running for a spot on the Warped Tour.
All of the songs on the new album would work well on radio, but that’s not to say that the band has sold out when it comes to lyric content. All 13 tracks on the band’s new album are originals and a few of them require two or three listens before you get the theme of the song. “Fight at the Museum” is one of those type of tracks, the song is a raucous distorted guitar driven number that will surely satiate the fans of pre record deal Starting Line and early Good Charlotte.
The band chose to make their song “Time Machines Exist” into the album’s first video. Mace Ballard’s brand of pop punk isn’t slow, but in contrast to the rest of the album, “Time Machines Exist” is a slower number that tells a really great story complemented well by the video which you can find on the band’s Facebook (www.facebook.com/maceballard) and Youtube (www.youtube.com/maceballard) pages.
The record closes with the song “Remainders,” arguably the slowest song on the album. After a couple of listens, the song is seemingly about how hard it is to put into words the feelings of a broken heart, however the lyrics are vague enough for you to add your own meaning.
The reason this album didn’t get the full five star iMoveiLive rating is because the lyrics are sometimes difficult to understand when paired with the heavy guitar and drum riffs nearly all 13 tracks have. If your ear is used to that sort of sound though, you’ll probably give this album a full five and a 5 star rating from a fan is really what matters most to the artist. Speaking of your vote, if you’d like to vote for Mace Ballard to play at this year’s Warped Tour, visit warped.battleofthebands.com or check out their website, wearemaceballard.com for more info.