I recently read someone's comment that if Myspace was a band, it'd be 1997. I think that's a pretty accurate assessment: 90% nonsense, 10% decent content. What 1997 put forward here is female-fronted emopop... lite. It doesn't quite rock enough to be emo. Think of Dido singing for a teenage Get Up Kids cover band... ick.

What's most unfortunate is that its members have skills and talent but they should just simply be playing different material with different bands. You can hear it in quick moments throughout the album: that 10% I mentioned before. Unfortunately, that's nowhere near enough to succeed. Time to go back to your old bands or move on to something new, guys: this experiment failed.

I guess it’s also telling that this is a Victory release, the one-time home to Snapcase, Earth Crisis, Deadguy, Cast Iron Hike, and more who ruled the scene a decade ago. I think 1997 may have been about the last time Victory put out a decent, powerful record, so maybe this band is a statement to that effect. Regardless, this is one to skip.
www.partylikeits1997.com
www.victoryrecords.com

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Nathan Blaney

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 Past Constructive Criticism

Jim posted the following Constructive Criticism: Way to write something off without much reason... I happen to think that '97 have a solid (NOT female fronted) balance of the male/female vocals... Their instrumentation is above average in the over-saturated average department of this scene... Maybe it's because I'm from their hometown and have seen their live show or maybe it's because this review didn't state why they are a band to skip, but I don't think this is accurate...