The first Saves the Day record, Can't Slow Down sounded an awful lot like Lifetime. Most critics would use that in a derogatory manner. But I'm not a critic. I'm a fan. Lifetime is one of the greatest hardcore or punk or whatever bands to grace this planet. So I'm biased. For me to say something sounds like Lifetime is a high compliment. However (you knew it was coming), you're not going to make a name for yourself by trying to sound like a scene defining band. So while I found Can't Slow Down listenable, it quickly ended up in a drawer on my desk. It followed the Lifetime formula too closely, and that's no fun. I want surprises, after all.

Thankfully, with Through Being Cool, the band has nearly found themselves. It's still a little derivative. One of the better tracks, Rocks Tonic Juice Magic sounds almost identical to Samiam's track, Capsized from their Clumsy album. However, the rest of the album seems to be more in line with where I hope to see the band moving in the next while.

It's good, simple pop-punk, with some hard edges, and, to their credit, they don't sound like anything on Fat, which is a hard thing for a pop-punk band to do.

This isn't a mediocre album. It's actually a very good one, but mostly because it shows the potential and talent that will hopefully make Saves the Day into a classic to rival their idols.