As witnessed with bands like Thursday and Thrice among other acts, the silly-sounding "screamo" genre has made quite a dent in the music world. Still, there is a fine line between the truly great acts, the mediocre, and the pure copycats. New to the list of screamo bands is St. Louis, MO's Story of the Year, picked up by major label Maverick Records to release their debut effort, Page Avenue.

Story of the Year can best be described as a middle-ground between bands like Thrice and Finch. While firmly mounted in the emo category, the band uses punishing riffs that resemble heavy metal songs at times that allow them to move beyond the pure emo category. Page Avenue is an album that while far from the quality of big bands in this subcategory, packs a punch that puts it above the mediocre and far above the copycats. Story of the Year still has a while to go to get it all down, but Page Avenue is still a well-done effort and flows pretty nicely.

Page Ave. kicks off in thrash fashion with one of the best on the album, and the hero will drown. Kicking in with punishing hard rock styled riffs, lead singer Dan Marsala nicely mixes screaming vocals with traditional singing for a nice effect. The screaming is never overused, and alot more bearable than acts like Atreyu. The vocal and musical hooks will appease your typical emo kids, but the aggressive vocals and executions bring it to a whole new level as a song. Strong and powerful, this song gives a good outlook to the rest of the album.

The night will come,
and rip away,
Her wings of innocence through every word we say...
Maybe it's time,
to spit out the core,
Of our rotting union hopefully before it chokes,
us to our senses

The album's lead single, Until the Day I Die, is next. The first words in the song Until the day I die/ I'll spill my heart for you will give you a good idea as to why this is the opening single. Simple, catchy, and sounding like the four billion other emo songs made, this one will hook in listeners quickly. While it's nothing amazing, the song pulls itself above boring territory with some very nicely placed layered vocals and some great guitar work by Phillip Sneed and Ryan Philips. Layered with some nice screams towards the end of the song, this one is a little too soft for my likes, but still shows some signs of great musicianship and some very nicely placed hooks.

Anthem of our Dying Day is alot like the last song, but with a more anthemic chorus and more genuine emotion, without having to resort to relationship and broken hearts. Kicking off with a depressing acoustic guitar intro, the song slowly uses some nice production tricks to give the bass drum and almost watery sound, with a nice beat that kicks into the powerful and excellent chorus. All the energy missing from the single can be found here, with some great verses and very nice chorus to boot. The powerful and slow riffs contribute to the genuine emotion on the song, with some almost metal-like riffs played at the right times. The song also kicks back into acoustic mode a few times, which is also used perfectly to give the song a raw yet emotional feel. With intelligent use of production tricks and some great music mixed with aggressive vocals, Anthem of Our Dying Day picks up where Hero left off and never really lets go.

In the Shadows is much more rock-oriented than the last two songs, with another very anthemic chorus that uses that oh-so-great "whoa!" chant that always suckers me in and never really gets old. Wills lays down some powerful drum work here, but the breakdown gives the song a slight feeling of repetitiveness, almost hinting a certain pattern that each song follows. Still, the song is a great one, again utilizing some aggressive screams that never grate and add to the refined yet aggressive sound of the band that's tougher to reach than it sounds. The musician ship is again quite high here, and the band lays down another great track.

We both take the hardest questions
and collect black eyes just to prove it
Still we pass by just like strangers
and we speak just like the closest enemies

Dive Right In kicks off with some nice metal riffs to grab in the listener. The verses slowly pick up in pace and volume, leading up to the half-screamed chorus. The breakdown is awesome, offering some more great metal-styled riffs, leading into another powerful chorus. The heavy riffage and aggressive vocals keep this one a quality song, and that dual edge that the band packs is clearly evident on this song. Dive Right In leads into a more emo-sounding song, Swallow the Knife. While the lyrics and alluring and at times haunting, it's only until the guitars start laying down their thick riffs and the chorus gets loud that this song is any good. The intro, utilizing light strumming and other evident tricks used in just about emo songs gives you a bad taste, but luckily the song redeems itself with a louder and more powerful second half, featuring some nasty drumming sections too.

Burning Years sounds like an album off a Finch album at points, with some plain great screaming breakdowns in the verses. Sneed lays down some of his best riffage here, as the band is really at the top of their game here. Featuring an awesome hook in the catchy but loud and angry chorus, the whole song really showcases some of the best qualities of the band, mixing emotion with some punishing riffage and heavy drumming to create a song that can win over both camps in the music genre. While the lyricism is at times weak here, there are still some good lines written in, making this one among the best in the album.

I think that nothing can fly with this broken wing,
There's so much to hold on to now,
Nothing can fly with this broken wing,
So, here's a gift, in this feather

Unfortunately, not all good things are forever, as the next two songs Page Avenue and Sidewalks can't really deliver on the level of the better songs on the album. I can't really get the gist of Sidewalks anyway, as the band tries to find some emotional value from sidewalks and watching cars go by. The verses even feature cars being counted. But more importantly, usually the music covers up the shameless emo mentality the lyrics take at times, but not here. In fact, Story of the Year tries to use every damn trick in the book to make this the millionth emo song that sounds like 999,999 songs before it. Using bongos and a string section? When it's done right, maybe, but this is mostly forced and anyone can tell from just one listen. Page Ave. is a little better song-wise, offering some more great musicianship, but really nothing more than that. Again, Marsala tries to find emotional value in obscure things, and while at times it can work, these forced out lyrics just sound stupid at points.

This leads us straight into Divide and Conquer, which as the title suggest, deals with war. Now I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm guessing that the band threw this one in order to separate them from the generic emo bands, and while it features some of the best riffage and vocals from the band, the lyrics really leave a bad taste in your mouth. I mean, I love a politically charged song as much as the next anarchist, but when it's forced out like this it just doesn't work. It just seems like the band threw this to gain some more cred or whatever, and while it works as a song, it does leave a bad taste after you're done with it. Razorblades kicks off the first of the last two songs on the album, starting up with an energized "yeah!" chant....yeah. The jumpy and thick riffs finally get the song out of the rut it was in, and then rockets off into space with the awesome chorus. Once again, the percussion is fully energized and really affects the song as much as any other instruments, and all together this song is one of the best on the album. The energy and raw but catchy nature of the song will have you bobbing your head in no time.

The first really punk-oriented song, Falling Down follows, and is just perfect. Moving at a thousand miles an hour, the song lets the vocalists trade lines, which works great. Aggressive and powerful, this one takes no prisoners and really kicks some serious a*s before it's course is run. The breakdown is just plain awesome as well, with some crunchy hard rocks riffs as the band goes absolutely wild on this closer. A truly great way to end the album.

Story of the Year's Page Avenue is far from album of the year material, featuring efforts that resemble generic emo material a little too much. But, the good songs on here register as some of the hardest and most memorable screamo songs to date, with some that resemble better efforts by top bands like Thrice and Finch. With a knowledge of hooks and some hard rock styled riffage, this one is miles beyond your typical screamo or emo record for that matter. While it shows obvious signs of being a debut record, with some similiar patterns and some wavy songwriting, as a whole Page Ave. is definitely worth a listen, offering some musicianship and lyrics that few bands even think about in their debut. With a price tag of only $9.99, it's not a bad investment either.

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Going to Sleep