Boyce Avenue aren’t a band I expect many of you, my loyal readers, to have heard of. In all honesty, I hadn’t heard of the band, comprised of brothers Alejandro, Daniel and Fabian Manzano either until I was presented with an opportunity to review this record. If you were to search for them on iTunes, with the exception of their first album of original material, out tomorrow, you’d find only a series of EPs in which they cover everyone from Journey to Linkin Park to Alicia Keys. But though right now they lack the personality and depth of songwriting to catapult them to the levels of their idols, Boyce Avenue have all the heart and all the other ingredients that at the very least make them worth keeping an eye on.
The opening chords of “Daylight”, the introduction to All We Have Left as well as, for many, Boyce Avenue themselves, present a wondrous dawn for a band. That opening melody and the swell into such vibrant, early-U2 style guitars is astonishing, and sets the stage for something genuinely promising. Unfortunately that would be a promise unfulfilled. From there much of All We Have Left quickly devolves into songs better left to the likes of The Fray and OneRepublic. Lead singer Alejandro Manzano has a beautiful, cottony voice that serves the band’s acoustic and piano-centric style well. The biggest problem with the remaining tracks on the album is that they sound like a thousand other melodic pop songs that have come around in the last five years. Consequently, the songs get tired quickly, and with the exception of first single “Every Breath” and “More Things To Say” (as well as the aforementioned “Daylight”), few moments on All We Have Left stick past the first listen. If Boyce Avenue could even just bring the tempo up on a few of these tracks, this would be an exponentially better listen.
But with that in mind, Boyce Avenue aren’t a bad band, and All We Have Left far from a bad first album. The problem is that right now they’re seeing folks like Kris Allen and Isaac Slade score huge hits on these milquetoast piano ballads, and they’re trying to follow the same formula. If Boyce Avenue took a closer look at the bands they covered on 5 EPs and less time walking the American Idol: Rock Band route, they could have something truly interesting. Alternatively, Boyce Avenue might be one of the bands for whom less is more. Strip away the drumset and electrics, and these songs might have new life as straight acoustic numbers. With Dashboard Confessional all grown up and the Justin ——s* of the world robbing younger generations of good music. Boyce Avenue could be bigger than they ever dreamed of a few years down the road. In short, enjoy All We Have Left not for the music, but for what lies ahead.
No MP3 available per label request, but the video for “Every Breath” is above, and check Boyce Avenue out on iTunes here.
Final Score: 6/10
*I refuse to give that egotistical, twitter abusing punk whose last name I edited out any kind of search engine help on my blog, so any time I might be forced to utter his name, I’m replacing it with either dashes or an obscenity.
Filed under: Reviews Tagged: | Boyce Avenue, new music, Reviews
OMG Man! If you would know the hole story about Boyce Avenue, you would not write these lines! …
Aww im so disapointed by this review maybe u need to do a little more up to date research
Boyce Avenue have been a tremendous success worldwide! Their music is very varied and unique. Yes their influences may be The Fray, Coldplay, Goo Goo Dolls etc…but you can’t listen to “All We Have Left” and say ohhh thats sounds like the Fray or Coldplay etc… What i like about this band the most is they can take any song and interpret it in their own way and the outcome always sounds great 
These guys, write, compose, design and arrange their own songs. I think each and every one of the brothers is exceptionally talented in their own way
They have acoustic and full band versions of most of their songs from their new album, and to be honest I cant choose which i prefer, i love them all.
Oh did i mention Ive just heard they in the top 100 albums on itunes….theyre obviously doing something right
All of that may be true. Sure, they do a nice job on their bazillion covers. But none of it is stuff where I’d rather hear their stuff over the originals. If I wanted a band that sounded like The Fray and The Goo Goo Dolls, I’d listen to The Fray or The Goo Goo Dolls.
Also, yes, they may be known worldwide and have a top 100 iTunes album. Neither of those translate to them being good.
shut up dude, you probably dont play an instrument. just sit behind ur computer and judge people who are doing better things than you. im sad that i stumbled upon this crappy website. cut your hands off, you suck.
who the hell allows you to say such a kind of things?! i think you don´t know anything about them! so stop talking about things you don´t know from the guys
I suppose this would be an awkward time to point out to everyone that I didn’t actually hate the album. It wasn’t my favorite of the year and it isn’t anything I’d heard elsewhere, but I’ve heard far worse and actually hope the band gets better with age.
But no, you’re right, I should cut my hands off because I didn’t drop to my knees for these guys.
How about you cut your ears off since you obviously don’t use them, then your knees, then your hands?
Yeah, I just listened to it. They are good musicians, but this album sounds like a copycat album. Too much time doing covers…
People who like Boyce Avenue are the handicapped kids of musical taste. Pity them, maybe even laugh at them, but don’t pay them any attention if they yell at you. Retards. Good review!