Get out the list of power-pop bands that want to be like AFI or Jimmy Eat World or My Chemical Romance; it's time to add another.
Whatever your opinion of Lakota, Hope For The Haunted has a couple things going for it. First, the songs are well written and generally catchy. Second, the band doesn't muck around with the basic songwriting formula. Finally, the guys seem relatively normal, or at least the lead singer hasn't appeared on stage wearing a bullet-proof vest. Yet.
Except for "Wait And See", Lakota's take on the acoustic ballad format that has been a pop-punk album staple since Green Day's "Time Of Your Life" took them to the teen mainstream, Hope For The Haunted's songs follow the traditional pop-punk formula. The verses feature brash guitar work, sixteenth-noted bass lines and crashing drums. The choruses involve regimented guitars, slightly more melodic bass, driving drums, and atop it all, preternaturally perfect vocal harmonies. Those choruses are the confections that keep Lakota's songs from sounding stale; without them, you might not even notice that your stereo was on. Get the picture? If it all starts to sound repetitive after a while, that's to be expected, if not entirely the point.
