My American Heart - 'Hiding Inside This Horrible Weather' (Bodog Music) Released 05/11/07

The opening song can really set the tone for the rest of the album, and when they’re as instantly gratifying as ‘Boys! Grab Your Guns’ you can easily be swept into a false dawn. The San Diego quintet certainly possess a gem or three but unfortunately ‘Hiding Inside This Horrible Weather’ is also padded with filler that passes you by without a feeling or an opinion. My American Heart is straight out of the generic-emo-name-generator and their look of tight jeans and the standard scensters hair is as original as their songs. Their sound treads the worn-out pop/punk path religiously, refusing to step off route and try something a little more adventurous.

Kicking off their sophomore effort is the energetic and instantly addictive ‘Boys! Grab Your Guns’. The intro is perfect pop-punk and the slick verses and powerful chorus make for memorable listen. ‘Speak Low If You Speak Love’ and ‘The Shake (Awful Feeling)’ follow and everything is looking positive for a really decent album. ‘The Shake (Awful Feeling)’ has the best opening riff of the LP, which carries the song effortlessly. Then everything comes to a grinding halt. ‘Tired and Uninspired’ really does explain itself perfectly, a slow monotonous number, its sickly lyrics annoy and the skip button has never felt so essential.

Every pop-punk band like to throw in the slow number, but most rightly reserve it for the last track, thus not killing the momentum of the rest of the album.  But with ‘Tired and Uninspired’ occupying track four, it squeezes the life out of a really decent start. Title track ‘Hiding Inside This Horrible Weather’ flirts with being a great tune but the chorus just falls short. ‘There Are More Frightening Things’ is their attempt of something a bit edgier, but this encouraging sign is swiftly wiped out by ‘Dangerous’ that is a fierce as a toothless hamster.  ‘Moving On’ sounds like The Starting Line, as they even adopt the same lyrics as their peers singing “Stay right where I can see you”.

There is nothing significantly wrong with ‘Hiding Inside This Horrible Weather’ the majority of songs certainly hold your ear, but then again nothing quite excites or sticks with you apart from the opening track. Having two albums under your belt at the tender age of 20 means the fivesome certainly have time on their side to make that really significant album. My American Heart have a bucket load of potential, but at present are hiding inside this stagnant scene.