Let me start by setting expectations -- this is pop in the same genre as The Click Five, Sum 41, and Fall Out Boy. I am probably too old to appreciate this genre -- I still consider bands like Material Issue, Urge Overkill and Too Much Joy as power-pop (and call Cartel and similar sounding bands bubblegum) This isn't my usual or preferred style of music but I have tried to listen to this CD and write this review with an open mind.

This isn't a bad CD -- the majority of the songs are catchy and strong production adds to the band's sound. The leadoff track on this disc, Say Anthing (Else), is the strongest track on the disc and many of the tracks that follow have a similar sound and feel. The problem that Cartel has is that their songs aren't significantly different than other bands in this genre. For instance, the track Honestly makes me immediately think of Fall Out Boy's Sugar We're Going Down. Some of the other tracks seem like unfinished thoughts. The last two tracks Q and A is really one song stretched across two tracks. This song seems to have promise after the first few minutes but, after dragging on twelve minutes, someone should have been filtering the band's output.

Cartel has promise as a solid pop/bubblegum band but they need to show that they can break out of the crowd.