The Fray - Scars & Stories Album Review

By Dan Donnelly / February 7, 2012

rating: 2.5

Pop-rock foursome The Fray from Denver, Colorado, burst onto the world scene with their chart-destroying hit How To Save a Life in 2005, and have been steadily plying their trade through their debut album of the same name followed by a self-titled album in 2009. 2012 marks the release of their third LP, Scars and Stories, which continues in the same vein as their previous albums, with a contrast between optimistic guitar tracks and downbeat piano ballads being prevalent throughout. One thing Scars and Stories is not short on is melody. The hooks in opening track and lead single Heartbeat are infectious, and the chorus refrain will run laps around your head for days. It invokes comparisons to bands such as Counting Crows (who are an obvious influence), as well as UK counterparts like Coldplay and Keane. The radio potential of Heartbeat combined with second track The Fighter is enormous, with lead singer Isaac Slade€™s vocals switching well between a new found gruffness and soaring falsettos. Songs like this are destined to be big hits at this year€™s summer festivals; they will suit perfectly to an open air setting in the warm evening air as the sun is fading away. Third track Turn Me On is my choice for the stand out song on the album, with a great beat running through it helped by a funky bassline and guitar work. A real strong point, it showcases the band€™s ability to make upbeat songs with catchy choruses and I would definitely make the argument that if they were to stick to this style instead of relying more on the piano ballads they are known for, it would make them a stronger band. Unfortunately, the strong start to the album quickly descends into mediocrity. Slade€™s haunting vocals on Run For Your Life are somewhat impressive, but it€™s a real pet hate of mine when bands overuse elongated €˜ooo€™ sounds to create melody. It just feels like they€™ve ran out of ideas, and from the sounds of things, The Fray ran out of ideas a lot on this album. There€™s nothing wrong with the majority of the tracks, but after the first 15 minutes it becomes fairly forgettable. Far too often I felt it was picking up before returning to pianos and How To Save a Life Part 2, really killing any flow the album can establish. I Can Barely Say is a decent piano driven ballad, but when you€™ve already released one of the successful pop-rock ballads in recent memory, why do another? And even worse, why repeat it later in the album with Be Still, which sounds exactly the same? Scars and Stories has €˜scared of change€™ written all over it, and whilst this will obviously please long-time fans of the band, they aren€™t likely to win any converts with their latest release. There is nothing technically wrong with this album. It is a well written and musically sound, but with the amount of bands doing the same thing as The Fray right now (the aforementioned Coldplay and Keane, along with The Script, OneRepublic, Snow Patrol, the list goes on), it feels like a real missed opportunity to inject some life into the genre. The songs on Scars and Stories could be interchanged with songs on The Fray€™s previous albums and the end result would be no different. The album reeks of a lack of ambition, the product of a band content to rest on its laurels, score a few chart hits, go on tour for the rest of the year and then enter the studio to start all over again. If rock and roll is meant to be fun, someone forgot to tell The Fray. The Fray's new album Scars & Stories is available from March 5th.