Count the Stars – Never Be Taken Alive

Release Date: February 25, 2003
Reviewed by Sonya Sutherland

Okay record industry enough is enough. The boy punk band is really played out. With over saturation of this market you discredit bands like Sum 41, who know how to rock, or Blink 182, who know how to make good pop. Count the Stars album sounds like every other “punk” band. I’m sure Hot Topic will pick them up and slap their faces on a t-shirt to boost their album sales. The entire album seems soulless. Don’t get me wrong, it is a fine polished record, but too fine polished. When did punk shift from gritty to glamorous? Each track on the cd is a tired combination of a classic punk structure and it leaves me wondering if they wrote all their tunes to a Casio keyboard that had a punk song setting.