Saves The Day: Under The Boards

Saves The Day revisits the past yet again on its sixth album, Under The Boards. After the stylistic departure of 2003's In Reverie, Saves The Day reprised its first album's Lifetime-emulating pop-punk on Sound The Alarm in 2006. Now it's moved on to the more balanced, moody pop of its 2001 breakthrough, Stay What You Are—"Can't Stay The Same" even rivals Stay's "At Your Funeral" for catchiness. But the pop (which peaks with "Bye Bye Baby") has plenty of pathos: The closers "Woe" and "Turning Over In My Tomb" are even darker than their titles suggest, with frontman Chris Conley getting downright goth lyrically. As usual, his nasal voice gets grating, but at least his band has returned to what it does best.