Forever Came Calling - Contender
 

Forever Came Calling - Contender
Release Date: July 24, 2012
Record Label: Pure Noise Records

Strangely enough, at this point in time, Forever Came Calling is probably best known for its role in the No Room for Rockstars documentary. The film followed the lives of a few performers on the Vans Warped Tour in 2010, and Forever Came Calling played the role of “that band that follows the tour all summer, selling CDs in line and hoping to play one of the gigs near the end of the routing.” It’s not officially credited as such, but you get the point. We see a lot about the band during the hour and forty minutes of the movie – frankly, a lot of personal stuff, including frontman Joe Candelaria having a breakdown at one point – but their story ends nicely, getting to play one of the last dates of the 2010 tour. It showed the band’s persistence and hard work more than anything else, but with the release of its debut full-length on Pure Noise Records, the time has come for the group to make noise in a different way. Contender is going to help Forever Came Calling shake off the label of “the band from that Warped Tour documentary” and become the band that put out one of the best pop-punk records in 2012.

Contender is your typical poppy pop-punk album, its 10 songs only managing to run the course of 24 minutes. The record is flat-out catchy, with life-sized hooks lurking around every corner, and those hooks are something that many people feel have been absent from the new school of the genre. It is, for all intents and purposes, a real harkening to the early-decade New Found Glory pop-punk that many of us grew up on, albeit more poppy. While bringing nothing new to the table in terms of creativity, Contender is a better execution of this style than any record in at least a couple of years; and with the way this genre works, you can’t ask for more than that. If you’re going to listen to one pop-punk record this summer, it should be this one.*

Opener “Learning” and its follow-up “For the Wolves” evaporate in about two minutes total, but Contender hits its stride in the middle of the sequencing. With the three tracks beginning with “The Office” and its sing-out-loud cries of “I’ll kill myself to shock my friends,” and running until “If Bukowski Could See Me Now,” Forever Came Calling delivers three huge choruses in a row. The song sandwiched by those two, “Ides,” is the standout – its refrain of “Just make mistakes because you’ll never be the same again / And I’m not worth your while but what’s your while worth again?” is one of the high points on the album.

Forever Came Calling is at its best when it sticks to its tried-and-true formula, so it’s no surprise that the slower, calmer “I’ll Be Better I Promise” is the only questionable track. That said, the song offers a welcome change of pace and does wonders for the album’s sequencing; it’s just one of those songs better in the mix of things than on its own. We’ve heard “Front Porch Sunrise” before, on FCC’s split with Handguns, but it’s no surprise the fan favorite was re-recorded for this LP.

The two songs that close out the record are solid, but “Contender” stands out as the must-download track from this album. “Contender for everything / From choir boys to thickest thieves,” Candelaria sings on the track over a busy drum kit. You get the feeling of the band having a bit of a chip on its shoulder, and we’ve already seen their do-it-at-all-costs mentality via their Warped Tour story. With a mindset like that and a tendency to write hooks as monstrous as we hear on this album, this band will have no problem making a dent in the ears of many new listeners over the summer.

While Forever Came Calling might have put out an album that isn’t very versatile, Contender breaks the mold in terms of just being more enjoyable than many recent releases in this style. Consider the band a mixed bag of some of the most popular names in pop-punk – Contender is the self-titled album Man Overboard tried to write, but with bouncy, crunchy parts a la Set Your Goals and The Story So Far. Forever Came Calling certainly picked an apt title for its debut LP…they will soon be a heavyweight in the genre.

*And Yellowcard's Southern Air.

8.5/10

Recommended If You Like

Man Overboard, The Story So Far, Set Your Goals, etc.

Links

ABSOLUTExclusive stream of "Ides"
Purchase

That sounds much better than I was expecting--I may end up checking this out.

Nice Review. I'm so excited for this.

Maybe I need to give the record more time, but like I Call Fives new record (another I may need to give more time), I felt it didn't live up to the hype.

Should be getting my copy in the mail next week. Good review, nice to know it's getting praise. Bit bummed about the short songs though but we'll see once I have the record in hand.

Really good album. Definitely stands up with last year's explosion of pop punk and is probably the best pop punk album of 2012 so far. Good review too

The band delivered with this release. The hooks on this record are untouchable. Hopefully this brings them to the next level.

I think I saw these guys with NFG?

Best pop punk release this year. Crazy hooks on this thing.

You kind of dropped the ball on that RIYL. Those bands probably won't get people to check this out, except for TSSF.

It's a good CD>

i'm guessing the "*" was meant to lead to a footnote saying to listen to more than one pop-punk record this summer?

not a fan of any of the riyl bands, but was still planning on checking this out.

this record is unbelievably good. only complaint is that they should have re-recorded Finish Em (it's 10 tracks long, why not throw another one in?) That song is too good to rot on their back catalog.

Best Pop Punk record this year still is IC5 IMO, but this is a great release/debut album also, so much great records and its just halfway thru the year!

This is pretty good. "The Office" is great.

Well-written review Thomas!

this is really great, lyrics are solid.

These dudes are currently on tour so, if there is a show near you........... GET TO IT !!
I love this record.


seems I have posted this pic alot lately ;)



and another well written review from Thomas.

I do prefer the WTP record over this one. Still pretty solid, though.

Guess I'll go check these dudes out!

What would you compare them to? I haven't listened to anything by them besides whatever was played in the Warped Tour doc.

This is a lot better to me than the With The Punches and I Call Fives. It's weird though, I'm going to review the I Call Fives and it's kind of the same deal as this album, where a lot of the songs sound the same, I just think this album is much better.

This is a great review. I'm stoked to see how far these guys have come. Can't wait to give it a spin!

I wouldn't say it's your typical poppy pop-punk album since this album is better than 90-95% of the genre out there

Did you read the review, that's exactly the point I made.

"Contender is your typical poppy pop-punk album, its 10 songs only managing to run the course of 24 minutes ... While bringing nothing new to the table in terms of creativity, Contender is a better execution of this style than any record in at least a couple of years; and with the way this genre works, you can’t ask for more than that."

i love this album. it leaked yesterday and i had to get it as soon as i could. probably gonna purchase within the week of official release. great review, i love your reviews, always check in on here to see if you praise something extremely highly or an album im anticipating.

I just wouldn't have used the word typical.

Really really stoked on this record. Best dudes, fantastic record.

Just gave this a first spin, really liking it. I think the short songs work really well for their style. Also I love the re-recorded Front Porch Sunrise so much more than the split version.

This better not have dorky back up vocals in it.

I can't stand man overboard, but the rest are so good.

review made me check it out... i can dig

watching five minutes of man overboard was the worst waste of my time at warped.

if you like Senses Fail, you'll most likely dig this band. Vocals are pretty similar.

other than my one very slight nitpick haha this is a good review and I totally agree with it, best pop punk album of the last 2-4 years

Band sounds exactly like State Champs.

This is a good thing.

I like this record but I don't feel it's as incredible as everyone is saying it is. Ides is a hell of a track.

I love MOB on record but I watched them at Warped and got bored after about 10 mins. I tried to tough it out but they were just so boring.

I forgot to make the footnote at first but I added it in later haha

I don't really agree on the comparison. But both bands deserve the attention they've been getting.

Lolwut

damn i was waiting for this album for sooooo long i'm gonna die when i get my hands on it

i like this a lot

idk, to me the most obvious similarity was the vocals (minus the screaming). when I first heard this band, all I could think of was "man this sounds like a lighter version of Senses Fail." maybe it's just me though.

So many great hooks on this record.
For a debut full length, they really made a statement with this. Perfect album title as well.

In reference to State Champs, I feel SC sound more like I Call Fives. Eitherway it's all good.

Nah don't see it in the vocals at all tbh. Vocals remind me of The story so far much more.

I feel like that is a pretty big statement, considering, how some people could argue, that the last few years have been pretty strong for pop punk releases.

I'll definitely have to check this out.

I didn't like With The Punches, the singer sounds like the lead from The Wonder Years to me, I'm stuck on I Call Fives right now, and FCC also

Don't understand the love for that band, nor Transit. I dont think there pop punk but thats what they put them into that genre as pop punk i just got there reissue of there new disc, and I just think the songs are super slow, its like something you'd pop in from a long day at work with a glass of wine hahha its slow. to me

how is everyone listening to this already? Anyone have a link?

haha i know what you mean. i didn't like transit at first, but they're slowly growing on me. certain songs are really good, but i agree that they're not really pop punk.

Record is solid. I can't put my finger on it, but there's something about these guys that helps them stand on their own in a pop punk scene full of cliches and copy-cat bands.

Party foul.