Ladies and gentlemen, we may have the next torch carriers of pop-punk music. All Time Low’s new album “So Wrong, It’s Right” is nothing ground-breaking by any means, but the boys’ sunny disposition and undeniably catchy music make it impossible not to sing along. The album was released on Sept. 25 and has been picking up steam on the Billboard charts. You can catch the album’s first single “Six Feet Under The Stars” on rotation on MTVU and MTV2.

The album begins without giving you much time to prepare as the band hammers right into their first song “This Is How We Do,” which sets the tone for the whole album. The song is filled with gang vocals, dance-friendly drumbeats, and takes a page out of the book of “pop-punk legends” like New Found Glory and The Starting Line. The boys keep things rolling with their second song “Let it Roll” which has the potential to be a pop-punk anthem to remember.

However, as the album continues,  All Time Low’s reasons for criticism start to manifest. At times the band’s lyrics are perplexing, and ultimately I don’t enjoy a few songs because of this. In “Holly (Would You Turn Me On?)” the lyrics lack originality and seem forced and uninspired. Also, later in the album a song called “Come One, Come All” would have been much improved with different lyrics. The song portrays the lead singer, Alex Gaskarth, killing a radio DJ for playing all the same songs. What may have been an attempt to stray away from the usual relationship-focused lyrics of pop punk, backfires.

Fortunately, the band makes up for it by supplying not only some great songs to sing along to with the windows down, but also by including a song that sets the album and the band apart from their peers. “Remembering Sunday” is the eighth track, and is definitely the most surprising song of the album. The guitar and piano-based beginning set the tone of the song, and it just keeps building and building until the band finally erupts, wailing into a finale that gives you chills. Juliet Simms accompanies Gaskarth at the end of the song, supplying beautiful harmonies, which solidifies the song’s status as the best on the record.

All Time Low ends the album with a great song called “Poppin’ Champagne,” which closes out the album wonderfully. The CD undoubtedly isn’t going to be hailed as the next “White Album,” but the band shows great potential with “So Wrong, It’s Right.”

The band sounds much more polished and solid than their pop-punk predecessors did with their second albums. It’ll be interesting to see whether the band can duplicate the successes of bands like Fall Out Boy, New Found Glory and The Starting Line. To do so, they will definitely need to step outside the box they created with this album. However, the album has been in constant rotation in my iTunes and in my car, and it’ a great album to party to or sing  to with the windows down.

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