Story of the Year
The Constant
By Brian Baker
The year 2002 served as a big turning point for heavy, post-hardcore St, Louis quintet Story of the Year, which had toiled away in front of a respectable local fan base for seven years as Big Blue Monkey. The title of the band’s EP, Story of the Year, became its moniker when they found they weren’t the only Big Blue Monkey; with the name change, drummer Dan Marsala stepped into the front man role, three members were replaced and the reconstituted group signed to Maverick Records for its charting major label debut, Page Avenue, and ubiquitous first single “Until the Day I Die.”
Since then, the going has been a bit rougher; SOTY’s 2005 sophomore album, In the Wake of Determination, didn’t sell so well, Maverick folded and Warner Brothers didn’t pick up the band’s option. Lesser bands might have been done in by that much drama at once, but SOTY drew on the determination that kept it going as a local band for so long. They signed with Epitaph and retooled their sound for 2008’s The Black Swan, a more melodic spin on their heavy sound. SOTY continues down that path on their fourth studio album and second for Epitaph, The Constant.
While there’s a certain radio friendliness to The Constant, as evidenced by the easy melodicism of “I’m Alive,” the album’s first single, and “Remember a Time,” heavier fare like the brutal “To the Burial” shows SOTY donning its emocore camouflage and channeling its inner Black Sabbath. At the same time, songs like “The Children Sing” and “The Dream is Over” seem to split the difference between the two not-so-extremes while SOTY’s new expansive perspective is exhibited in the piano balladry of “Holding On To You,” clearly shows the band’s blossoming maturity and diversity. Story of the Year has already proven the ability to handle great success and great adversity with equal grace and The Constant, in title and execution, is a perfect example of the band’s ethic and creativity.
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