By Rocio Fortuny

Baltimore punk rock band All Time Low released their seventh studio album this April 3rd, 2020. The album has 15 songs, including two collaborations with rapper blackbear and The Band CAMINO. With already-told stories and familiar sounds, the album is nothing memorable, but it does have a few songs that are worth your time. 

The garage band turned high-school best friends turned punk rock band has been together since 2003. That is clearly a long time for anyone to remain fresh. Lead singer Alex Gaskarth is still strong vocally. Bassist Zack Merrick and drummer Rian Dawson still keep the song’s rhythm one of the best parts of any All Time Low classic. Lead guitarist Jack Barakat offers great energy to any chorus that needs him and he backs up Gaskarth well. Still, listening to Wake Up, Sunshine is like meeting a lovable best friend that hasn’t changed since 2009’s Nothing Personal.

There are pieces of this album that are disappointingly familiar, yet comforting. Many songs are grown-up versions of All Time Low’s old material. From acknowledging the band’s messy self in “Some Kind Of Disaster,” to how great chilling with your significant other and friends is in “Sleeping In,” to escaping but in a cool way with “Getaway Green.” An All Time Low album isn’t complete without a song comforting the outcasts about how it’s okay to be themselves and have their opinions – “Wake Up, Sunshine” offers all that. After you make it past these songs, that’s when things get interesting.  

The special bits of this album can be found in “Monster” and “Pretty Venom.” These two songs, which speak of toxicity and poisonous relationships stand out as they are not the typical punk rock sound, yet they merge into the All Time Low tracklist seamlessly. 

“Monster” is the band’s first song featuring a rapper. The guitar and bass stand out, and the change of flow introduced by blackbear make this song the most musically entertaining one. “Pretty Venom” is the most distinct song that the Baltimore band has written in a while, almost since “Therapy (2009).” With an acoustic guitar in the back, Gaskarth drops the group’s walls and shows their vulnerability with soft vocals.

The two songs mentioned above work as a sign that better content is coming. “Favorite Place (ft. The Band CAMINO)” and “Clumsy” are two charming love songs. They don’t sound like something that could be found on Dirty Work – actually nice yet not cheesy nor undeserving of punk rock. This is also true for “Glitter & Crimson,” where Gaskarth sings about a society-prohibited love story as he says “And I don't wanna wait 'til the sunshine fades, And bury our love in a shallow grave, 'Cause the world could be cruel to us.”

Wake Up, Sunshine doesn’t offer anything truly groundbreaking, but it does show a glimpse of what All Time Low can do when they try –different, bold, new. Some might even say, fresh.