When the disc initially started with "Hello Hello", I thought to myself, this is catchy pop rock music. Nothing deeper, nothing more meaningful. Then came the bridge of the song: it almost stops, switches melodies, goes with the new one for a little bit, then comes back to the original melody. And this may sound like a bad thing, but Epic Hero pulls it off. The rest of the disc follows suit, maintaining that pop sensibility, save a few of the tracks.

"End of The Line" is a song about the cliche "girl finding herself in California." It's a bit redundant in its subject, however the music seems to be a bit more country influenced and at times sounds twangy. Again, not a bad thing. It works very well with the song and the album. Also used in this song is falsetto- now don't cringe! These days it seems to be a bit overused and abused, but (in this song, at least) it works and my ears didn't bleed once!

The vocals were great, again, save a few songs. In "High School" the falsetto could have been omitted. Perhaps they just did too many takes before the final one, but it sounds strained and at times painful. Also on "One In a Crowd" the vocals seem a bit awkward; I can't place my finger on exactly what it is, though. It is also one of those commanding songs, the get-up-and-dance songs. I'm not partial to these, especially on a pop rock record. To each his own.

All in all, this is a good example of pop rock music. Out of the 12 songs on the disc I only found myself wishing that two would end immediately, and these days (what with the filler used on every record), that is a good thing. So if you're a fan of pop rock music and like to be told what to do (joking) pick up Epic Hero's New Life.

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