Before buying 'Silverstrand', I’d been advised that it had been tipped as the pop punk album of the year. I thought that a little bit optimistic seeing as it was only April, but pop punk is my thing so I decided to buy it on the day it was released.

Over It have been about for sometime but this is the first album I've heard by them. The first song I'd heard was 'Waiting', a tune which you’re not sure whether you’re supposed to dance or cry too, but it impressed me, even with cliched lyrics such as “can we turn daydreams into reality?”. The 45 second, imaginatively titled ‘Intro’ at the start of the album will have you taking the CD out of your stereo and seeing if it needs cleaning thanks to some ‘clever’ distorted noise. ‘Siren on the 101’ is the moral of the story of Over It, a good old American pop punk tune which you can cruise in your Cadillac to, the same applies to ‘We Are The Ordinary’.

Nearly all the songs seem to blend into one…all with an over enthusiastic drummer who really should be told he’s not playing in a hardcore band. There’s no doubt about the fact that singer Peter Munters has a beautiful voice (and wonderful surname) but you can’t help thinking he would be better suited to the newest Backstreet Boys rip-off band. This is the main problem with Over It, none of their members seem to want to be playing the same genre of music; they would excel if they each followed their chosen field. Don’t even get me started on the quick singing fix on ‘Partner In Crime’, it should be the new dictionary definition for the word ‘misplaced’.

If you want a CD that will put a smile on your face, buy 'Silverstrand'. If you want a CD full of original lyrics and melodies, save your money. Over It are as sickly sweet as a Milkybar but are about as rich in originality as every other band that wants to be included on an American Pie soundtrack. They’re not a bad band, ‘Shine’ and ‘Waiting’ are definitely worthy of the repeat button but it’s just a shame that they have let their potential slide in favour of writing songs with the creativity of a McDonalds menu. A good choice of support for The All-American Rejects but that’s as far as it goes.

You can check out there website at www.overitonline.com.