The Maine are a pop-rock band that sound exactly like hundreds of other pop-rock bands. With their fourth release, ‘Forever Halloween’, they fail to bring anything new to the table, and if anything drag the standard down.
Take What You Can Carry opens the album with predictable instrumentation and insipid lyrics. Frontman John O’Callaghan cries on the chorus: “You and me we'll start a war, or you'll get what you paid for. Take what you can carry, Joseph and Mary. They're outta town tonight.”
On this track in particular, O’Callaghan’s vocals are oddly reminiscent of Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner. A Sheffield twang from the Arizona-born O’Callaghan is a weird combination.
The repetitive Love and Drugs uses well-worn guitar patterns and saturated pop-rock vocals. It's good as background music, while the whispered backing vocals serve only to add to its tacky nature. Irritatingly catchy but short on wit, Love and Drugs is a typical teen anthem about love that you’ve heard a thousand times before.
The next track, Run, sounds shockingly similar to the previous track both in terms of the guitar work and vocals. What’s obvious is that the Maine aren’t trying to do anything new. While this works for some, ‘Forever Halloween' sounds like a cheap copy of their tour mates' records.
White Walls is a tedious ballad and forms an uninspiring couple with the next track, Blood Red. The song will worm its way into your head and stay there determinedly, but its solid hook doesn’t hide the fact that the lyrics are lazy. Kennedy Curse carries a great hook and is a track you'd hum along to on the radio, but it's up in the air as to whether you'd run out and buy it.
Sad Songs utilises a 'lighters in the air' final chorus, with group vocals and an oh-so-emotional piano accompaniment, while O’Callaghan’s vocals are off key and warbling in places on These Four Words. He tries to sound sensitive for the female fans, but it just doesn’t work.
Title track and closer, Forever Halloween, begins with breathy vocals before the drums kick in – all slow and heartfelt. Unfortunately, it doesn’t get any better as a horrifying guitar solo at the end of the song just about tops it all off. Five whole minutes later and Forever Halloween cuts off abruptly, making for an uncomfortable end.
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