If fans of Sick of Change are NOT expecting a change in this album, then disappointment awaits you. Although eager-to-label people may still tag this band 'pop-punk,' the overall impression of These Shattered Lives sounds more like a high school glee club let loose with electric guitars and a drum set. In other words, the vocals and overall production of this album are so squeaky clean that bands like Relient K come to mind. Yes, (sigh) . . . it's true. The boys have left their raw "yell the BGVs" punk rock sound for more sophisticated to finely tuned melodies. The intros to each song are so similar that listeners may / could easily mistake the entire album for one long continuous thirty minute number. While consistency is a good thing, in the fact that it distinguishes the individuality of a band, too much consistency tends to be redundant; which in turn, causes the listener to lose interest. For those of you who have heard the demo version of "Endless Thoughts of You" off Nothing Says I Love You Like Punk Rock (vol. 1), the new version is hardly recognizable to that of the demo. Kevin Scott's vocals are everywhere on the new "Endless," and the perfectly polished notes sound forced and imposed on the listener. The rough edges of the demo version and debut album In Our Time of Need are what gave this band character . . . and now those edges have been sadly smoothed out. These Shattered Lives is Sick of Change minus the (somewhat) restless youth-gutter punk undertones that made Sick of Change enjoyable.
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