Bayside - The Walking Wounded

Bayside
The Walking Wounded
Victory Records
Grade: A-

After a bit of floating around following the death of their drummer John Beatz, Bayside have finally lived up the potential shown on their debut Sirens and Condolences, and offer by far their best record to date and one of the strongest melodic punk records of 2007. If the world hadn’t already seen the likes of the Smoking Popes, Alkaline Trio, and the rest of the Chicago punk scene, Bayside would be path blazers. But we’ve heard of those folks before. Still, the twelve songs on The Walking Wounded come off like something that the Popes or Alkaline Trio would have loved to have written. Led by the juggernaut of vocalist/guitarist Anthony Raneri, Bayside are bolstered by the guitar antics of Jack O’Shea and the well-measured rhythm section of Nick Ghanbarian and Chris Guglielmo. Raneri has clearly come into his own vocally and he has all the confidence in the world. The four-piece hit all the right notes on songs such as the opening title-track (featuring Vinny Caruana), “Duality,” “Head on a Plate,” the high-tempo, exceptional “Dear Your Holiness,” and “Thankfully.” The Walking Wounded has restored my faith that Bayside are legit contenders for the melodic punk heavyweight crown.