REVIEW: ROAM ‘Great Heights & Nosedives’

Roam are back with their sophomore offering; Great Heights and Nosedives. The album is due for release on October 13th, in the meantime make sure to catch them supporting the godfathers of pop punk; New Found Glory on the UK leg of their tour. Tickets are still available for some dates, its definitely one you don’t want to miss out on!

Enough rambling on about the tour, we’re here to talk the new album. Now I’m not the biggest fan of Roam, they aren’t a band I listen to at all really, as they aren’t my cup of tea. But this album pleasantly surprised me.

Alive the opening track did leave me a little underwhelmed on reflection, as there are some way better tracks on the album. But as an opener, it does the job. Shows you what this album is all about they’ve been through hell and back, and this is about overcoming all of that and coming out on the other side, you know the up’s and down’s of life. Alive is certainly the track where the rest of the album bubbles up from, it’s definitely the foundation that the rest of the track’s build up from.

The standout track for me is the third track on the album; The Rich Life Of A Poor Man. Now this track is where I was pleasantly surprised, and where these guys are pulling their weight and proving they aren’t just another generic pop punk outfit. The sound of this track is completely unexpected, quite poppy but it has a great vibe and the changes of pace and the build are impeccable.

Throughout the tracks all have the similar Roam feel, of angst-filled lyrics with a great sound that you just want to bop your head to. But there’s some incredible twists and turns as the sound changes, and it’ll leave you in a state of surprise. Now from Backbone, this is a world away. Most bands don’t make it to their sophomore offering these days, as the scene is saturated with a lot of bands who can’t seem to find that little niche to pull them apart from the rest. I’d say this is where Roam has pulled ahead in the pop punk stakes. As for me, a great pop punk album has the ability to change pace and even dare to go a bit more pop or slightly heavier. Yet consistently have those lyrical themes that you’ll relate to. And this more than ticks all those boxes. There are some great anthemic sing-alongs like the album closer; Home.

The guys have done a great job, definitely a great comeback and not a sophomore slump.

You can get the album on October 13th and theres even a beautiful vinyl variant you can get your hands on. Order the album on:
iTunes
Impericon
MerchNow
Hopeless Records