Last spring when I heard alternative rock and pop punk band Mayday Parade was releasing a fourth album in the fall I couldn’t be anymore excited because it was their first album release in almost two years.
With 12 new songs, including their first single “Ghosts” and their second single “Girls,” the band sings about how love is a demon and moving on will always leave ghosts behind. It wasn’t surprising to hear them sing about heart breaks since they have in past albums
In this album, Mayday Parade uses similar sounds they have in past albums like A Lesson in Romantics. To get their sound, the band uses a piano, acoustic/bass guitar and drums. Derek Sanders and Jake Bundrick sing lead vocals with Jeremy Lenzo doing backup vocals. Monsters in the Closet sounds a lot like past albums, but it works because they write perfect heartbreak and grief songs.
The album starts out with “Ghosts,” a song about being haunted by a past lover who can never be yours. The song starts out with a happier feel but ends with violin and piano melodies making you feel sorrow and loss for the love you can’t have. Later, “Last Night for a Table of Two” starts out with a darker feeling with its heavy bass and guitar solo. Once the song gets going the chorus comes up, “There’s got to be a better way to show what I’m feeling,” is perfect because it’s telling people to show their feelings towards a heartbreak instead of burying them.
After listening to “12 through 15” I was left with the thought that love will always leave you broken and hurt in the end. “Love is just an empty word you say I found loyalty and it was pain.” When I heard this line I felt sad because it made me think love will always leave you in pain and has no meaning.
The song “Repent and Repeat” puts a twist on the album when Derek Sanders starts singing, “I promise I’ll go back again and make things right this time and if you believe in me, then stand and fight”. When I heard that I thought about how there’ll always be that one love people will try to fight for. By the time listeners get to the last song “Angles” the album is a journey through a lifetime of heartbreaks.
After listening to Monsters in the Closet at least half a dozen times, I’ve fallen in love with the heartbreaking songs. Mayday Parade is a band that can make even the saddest songs enjoyable and that’s what I love about them. Some Mayday Parade fans may be disappointed it’s just another album of heartbreaks and grief. On the other hand, some fans will love it for the same reasons I do.