Album Review: Chase This Light

Release Date: October 16th, 2007
Rating: 4 out of 5

For me personally, Jimmy Eat World is one more reliable bands I listen to, with wider array of albums I can listen to all the way through without skipping tracks.
Of course, there is a bit of a divide among fans, long-time or otherwise. Clarity fans will more often look down upon anyone who considers Bleed American due to their slightly more mainstream-pop rock sound (or they just ignore it all together).
Yet Chase This Light, their follow-up to 2004's Futures, draws from the best of Jimmy's older alternative sound while not completely ignoring the progression they've made since first dropping Static Prevails.
Songs like the fast-paced 'Big Casino' embrace the big made-for-radio play sound they've picked up on with other memorable (albeit now less tolerable) singles like 'The Middle'.
If anything, Chase This Light is a perfect example of Jimmy Eat World as they are now: still alternative with their not so subtle pop-rock undertones. It's almost predictable at this point, but it is a formula that they've managed to perfect in their favor if nothing else. There's nothing too surprising here, and it can be either a good or bad thing, depending on your expectations for this album.
The album keeps up the pace throughout, where as Futures was made up more of slower (if not emo) songs. There are stll some slightly mellow, catchy beats in songs like 'Carry You' and title track 'Chase This Light' help to overall balance out the album without dragging it down. And of course, tracks like 'Electable (Give It Up)' will take you back to 1998.
This album is definitely capable of drawing in older (less stubborn and/or elitist) fans, while still keeping their newer ones.