Album Review by Bradley Christensen
Hellogoodbye – Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs!
Record Label: Drive-Thru
Release Date: August 8 2006
Hellogoodbye is a band that went into a very, very odd career path, especially after their debut LP, 2006’s Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs! I’ll be calling it Zombies, for the record, because that’s such a long and “lol random” title. I remember when the album came out, but I listened to it a year or so later on. This LP was a big staple of my freshman year of high school, and Hellogoodbye was one of the first bands I got into. They were also one of the first “pop” bands I got into, and I put that in quotes, because they had a pop sound, but they weren’t really a pop band. They had some rock instrumentation, but they weren’t really a rock band, either. They didn’t fit into the rock or pop world, so they were kind of a unique band. Zombies was a cool album, though, and I remember the album quite fondly. It was cheesy as all hell, namely in its lyrics, but it was catchy, fun, and energetic. I’ve been thinking about revisiting this album, because I’ve been getting into a nostalgic stuff, and it’s really funny how life works sometimes. See, I was going to order a copy of this album online, but before I could do that, my mom came home, so I had to leave. I wanted to go to Goodwill, though, just to see what kind of new stuff that they had. Well, guess what I found at Goodwill? A copy of Zombies! I had to get it when I saw it, so that was very, very exciting. The question is, however, does this album hold up? A lot of albums that I used to like, well, haven’t aged the best, and with that said, is this one of them? I mean, some albums I love are timeless beyond belief, such as Infinity On High, but that’s top tier for me. After spending some time with Zombies, this LP’s an interesting one, because it’s definitely dated, but in a very, very fun way, and I have to be honest – I really like this album still.
When I mean this album is dated, it reminds me a lot of Silverstein’s debut album, which I just reviewed the other day, 2003’s When Broken Is Easily Fixed. That album, if you don’t remember, is very dated, as it’s a very generic emo / post-hardcore album from the early 00s. Its dated sound can be fun, however, because you can enjoy its over the top sound. The album’s covered in emo cheese, but it’s a lot of fun, especially if you’re into that kind of sound. This LP is sort of similar, because it’s got a very dated mid-00s MySpace / emo-pop sound that a lot of bands had in that time. Just one listen through a song on this album, and any young adult that was on MySpace probably heard one of these songs, or you were like me, and knew the whole album by heart. The album itself, though, definitely has this MySpace feel to it, and it sounds awfully dated. Its dated MySpace-esque sound makes it a lot of fun. I’m not going to pretend this album is really, really monumental, groundbreaking, or interesting. The album’s very, very over the top, cheesy, and silly. The vocals are covered in rather cringy auto-tune, even though their vocalist can sing pretty well, and the lyrics are emo cheese. They’re the opposite of the emo cheese that When Broken Is Easily Fixed was slathered in, though, because these lyrics are overly sweet, cute, and sentimental. Their biggest song was “Here (In Your Arms),” and if you’ve heard that song, you might know how overly cheesy, saccharine, and sugary sweet it is. That’s how the entire 35-minute album, but there’s an odd charm to this album. Listening to it years later, there’s this strange and surreal charm to it that makes somehow timeless, too. It’s the same way that The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air is so timeless; it’s blatantly a show that could only come from the 90s, but that’s why it’s so timeless. It’s an interesting snapshot into that time period.
There’s nothing groundbreaking or amazing about Fresh Prince, but it didn’t need to be anything more than what it was. People loved it, and while Zombies isn’t a top tier underrated classic of 2006, it’s a good album to include in lists of throwbacks from the mid-00s. It’s a fun album that’s catchy, over the top, and sweet. Vocalist Forrest Kline has a very good voice, even though he slathers in auto-tune, and the lyrics are very cute, sweet, and enjoyable. You bet that this is the album that scene / emo kids used to swoon their crushes, but it’s still sweet today. I mentioned way earlier in the review that the band had a weird career path, because this LP is a very pop-focused record, but their last couple of albums were indie-pop / folk-pop. It was a very weird change, as well as a dramatic one, but here’s the thing – I liked those albums. I mean, I don’t remember their last one, 2013’s Everything Is Debatable, being all that great, but I’ve always wanted to get a copy of 2010’s Would It Kill You. If you only heard this record, like how I did before Would It Kill You came out, you’d be shocked when you find out they went into a more “serious” direction. Not that this LP isn’t serious, but it’s very juvenile, at least in its lyricism, anyway. I can understand people not liking this album, because it is very over the top, silly, and cheesy, as well as too electronic-influenced and pop-focused, but I liked it a lot back then. I still do, honestly, even though it’s not a top tier classic. If I had to write a list of underrated albums from 2006, I might put this one on there, just for kicks, because it’s a fun, catchy, and quick little album. I wouldn’t say you’re missing out on a whole lot, but if you grew up in the era of MySpace, you might get a kick out of this, or you might remember some of these songs.
I haven’t heard their music in years and just the name “Hellogoodbye” spurs some middle school nostalgia. Their sound has migrated towards the same indie-pop peppiness that is associated with acts such as Walk the Moon and Grouplove. I’ll always hold songs like “Oh, It is Love” and “Here (In Your Arms)” dear to my heart, but I’m loving their new direction a lot.
