Back then, it was hair metal, then it was nu metal, and now it's "emo." I wouldn't like to be a Rites of Spring member these days. Really, creating a good genre and then seeing it being destroyed by countless AFI clones must be bad, and it doesn't seem like it'll get better soon. And it's not like those bands even try, they just play the same songs, change the names and sell it in Best Buy to teenagers. And hell, who hasn't heard at least fifty of those? Truth is, most of them aren't really that bad to the ears, but they are as pointless as it gets. I can't say On the Last Day escapes the trend, but at least it's musically correct.

Know the genre? Then you know On the Last Day’s Meaning in the Static. Clean vocals, power chords, punky bass, typical rock buildup, verse-chorus-verse structures. Just correct. Breakdowns, leads here and there, polymeters sometimes, palm muting. Yep, just correct.

The highest point, if any, would be the not so traditional clean vocals, more like Tool than My Chemical Romance. The screamed ones are just like AFI's, though. Yet again, correct, but nothing to make you go mad.

As for the lowest point, it doesn't really have one. As opposed to the millions of bands playing the same style, the breakdowns are decent, the technical aspect is decent, the compositions are decent. Yeah, everything here is decent. It doesn't change randomly, but it doesn't show any avantgarde tendencies either. It doesn't go too fast, nor does it go too slow. It's not really monotonous but it's not progressive, either. It's not extreme but it's not that easy to listen to. Every single moment of this album is a middle point.

Don't worry, I won't bother you with "Oh, you can really feel the pain he's feeling" crap, and the album won't either. Meaning in the Static doesn't really abuse cheap melodrama, and it's definitely not as emo (in the MTV sense of the word) as many bands in the genre. In fact, the attitude is mostly a rock one, excepting some parts.

Everything that could have gone wrong, didn't, but it's obvious that On the Last Day didn't take any risks here. Experimentation is non-existent, as is anything technically or compositionally outstanding. It'll probably be doomed to be a commercial failure, seeing as it's no doubt better than all the AFI clones.

Just correct. (5/10)