Death in the Park

Death in the Park pick up right where pop punk band Hot Rod Circuit left off a couple of years ago. That should be no surprise, considering both front-man Andy Jackson and bassist Joe Ballaro were members of HRC for nearly ten years. So, what did they do different this time around? The answer is, well, not much. Their self-titled EP has three full-band songs and two acoustic tunes, one of which features guest vocalist Haley Williams from insanely-popular-with-the-high-school-Hot-Topic-crowd band Paramore. Anyone familiar with Hot Rod Circuit knows that they played straightforward, catchy pop punk. Regardless, the songs had a lot of personality and some pretty creative guitar-work. Death in the Park seem devoid of that personality, and it's pretty evident that with this EP they're trying to appeal to that same high schoolin', Hot Topic-in', cool kids crew. The songs are catchy but ultimately this EP falls flat.