Wishful Thinking (studio album) by Neck Deep

In hindsight, it's quite the achievement for an act as bland as Neck Deep to achieve all the commercial success they achieved and to amass such a massive following like they have. There is not a single note or lyric in the entire Neck Deep discography that hasn't been played or written by another artists, but these guys still get praised for breathing new life into pop punk.

Wishful Thinking is nothing more than New Found Glory and A Day To Remember worship, with Neck Deep, sound-wise, resembling a cross between the two acts. Neck Deep impressively up the ante by sounding even blander and generic than the aforementioned artists, with hideous production to boot.

Vocalist Ben Barlow, does sound somewhat tolerable and is the least terrible part of the record. His lyrics however are horrendous, either consisting of whining about relationship troubles or teen angst or occasionally (such as on Zoltar Speaks) toothless social commentary.

The musicians give performances that are uninspired and lifeless. The guitar riffs and leads are boring, the bass is inaudible, and the drumming is nothing spectacular.

As mentioned earlier, the production is easily the worst aspect of the album, aside from the lyrics. The record is clipped to hell and has sound that is overcompressed, resulting in a sound that will make your ears bleed due to how loud and dynamic everything is.

Beginner's luck is nowhere to be found here. The record has no charm and anything particularly distinct or memorable about it.

MUCH better than "Rain In July", that EP was awful, but this is pretty tolerable "I can't stand my hometown Pop-Rock".