With their third, brand new album, “Even If It Kills Me”, Motion City Soundtrack (MCS) succeeded where many bands in their position would fail horribly. The boys managed to allow their music to grow and develop without alienating their loyal fan base.

“Even If It Kills Me” is the band’s third album, which is their third released on Indie label Epitaph. Some songs that listeners might be familiar with are, “Tell Me That You’re Alright”, “Make Out Kids” and “My Favorite Accident”. While many bands in their genre continually choose to churn out the same old tunes, MCS has taken a step forward and made a conscious effort to take new chances with their music in the new record.

“Even If It Kills Me” begins with a song entitled “Fell In Love Without You,” which gives the album instant strength because of its classic and unmistakable MCS sound. From the first note of this album, I was relieved that the band was still capable of making music that was progressive, but not a giant step away from their previous work. The song also supplies heartfelt and honest lyrics, which Motion City Soundtrack’s lead singer Justin Pierre is known and loved for by many fans. The band couldn’t have picked a better song to open the album with.

The second song on the album, “This Is For Real” also provides listeners with a MCS mainstay, as the guitars and synthesizer mirror the melody of Pierre’s voice. From the very first time I listened to this track, I instantly wanted to get up and dance, and that is something MCS has always been able to do… make people boogie.

While the fifth and sixth songs lost some steam, “The Conversation”, is one of the most unexpected and brilliant songs on the album. MCS is a band that is usually recognized by its high energy, synth-infused pop sound. This song couldn’t be further from that description, but for some reason it works tremendously in their favor. “The Conversation” is an amazing pop-punk ballad that is stripped down to just piano and Pierre’s engaging voice, and the song alone adds instant credibility to the album.

Their single, “Broken Heart” brings the album back to a familiar MSC sound and is probably the catchiest song on the album. The following song, “Hello Helicopter” is most definitely my favorite song on the album and the band’s shining moment. MCS sounds tighter as a band on this song than they ever have, and without this song the strength of the album would suffer tremendously.

The album concludes with its title track “Even If It Kills Me”. MCS couldn’t have chose a better song to end with; it leaves the listener with a powerful and inspired song that foreshadows the growth that MCS is still capable of.

“Even If It Kills Me” is undoubtedly MCS’s most accomplished album yet. As the following weeks and months pass, it’ll be interesting to see how many new fans MCS has gained after this great release. MSC seems like they are one or two songs away from creating their pinnacle album, but “Even If It Kills Me” is a very solid album for fans to chew on until that happens.

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