Live In the Lou

Album Review

Live in the Lou follows over a year of touring for Story of the Year's debut LP Page Avenue, and sets up a sophomore studio effort. It's a "gift to the fans"-type package, capturing a gig in their hometown of St. Louis and including a DVD with live, behind-the-scenes, and home video footage stretching all the way back to when Story was still called Big Blue Monkey. That was before they moved to LA to record Page Avenue with Goldfinger impresario John Feldmann, before their ease into a sort of cross between Deftones and Dashboard Confessional, and before the strings of Warped Tour dates. That's the sound they feature on Live in the Lou, where post-grunge guitar lines are amplified by metal flourishes and periodically reigned in by stretches of chorus channel introspection. And Story of the Year prove to be a capable live band. Still, while the sound mix is strong and Story's guitarists hit their marks, they nevertheless sound a little muddled. Instead, it's drummer Josh Willis and vocalist Dan Marsala who drive the raucous set standouts "Divide and Conquer," "Dive Right In," and "Burning Years." Marsala makes up for some slips in key with his vigorous screaming and numerous crowd shout-outs, and Willis controls as best he can Story's ambitious, but occasionally too-ambitious songwriting dynamics. The hometown crowd certainly doesn't mind the slight missteps. Marsala is accompanied by a fawning teenage girl chorus for the suicide melodrama "Anthem of Our Dying Day," and everyone responds heartily to "This is the best show of the tour!" and "What up St. Louis?!" exclamations. They're also treated to a brand new song, the promisingly raw "Heart of Polka Is Still Beating." Fans will recognize everything else in the set as coming from Page Avenue. [Live in the Lou's accompanying DVD also included the videos for singles "Until the Day I Die" and "Anthem of Our Dying Day"."]