For those labeled as “inspirations” an attachment is formed, for better or worse, to a specific genre of art. So is the dilemma The Get Up Kids face. They are forever attached to emo, a connection they spurn. As a member of the second wave of emo in the late 1990s, The Get Up Kids forged the paths that bands, such as Fall Out Boy and The Early November, would one day traverse.

The Kansas City quintet famously broke up in March 2005 due to internal conflicts. However, in 2008 they announced that they would be doing a reunion tour for the 10th Anniversary of “Something To Write Home About”, their most successful album. After the tour, The Get Up Kids returned to the studio and began working on their fifth album, There Are Rules.

The nearly seven year delay between full lengths does not translate into rust, but rather The Get Up Kids sound innovative and invigorated. The album’s first two songs, “Tithe” and “Regent’s Court,” bring the old-school emo sound into the new decade with passion and vigor. Vocalist Matt Pryor calls out the scene his band has had a hand in building on “Regent’s Court” when he sings, “The whole scene’s fading // As if the walls are caving in // Have to up the medicine.”

There Are Rules is not all early-millennium nostalgia. On “Shatter Your Lungs,” “Pararelevent,” and especially the stunning “Rally ‘Round The Fool,” the band takes on a more experimental feel with atmospheric guitars and driving percussions, courtesy of drummer Ryan Pope. Perhaps the song that exemplifies the combination of old-school emo and the band’s more experimental side is “The Widow Paris.” Ryan’s brother, bassist Rob Pope, is the backbone of this song that sounds nothing short of a The Cure b-side.

The album is not without its flaws, however. A listener may have a difficult time connecting with the new-school meets old-school sound The Get Up Kids are offering. There are times throughout the album where Something To Write
Home About or On A Wire are quite audible. Yet, if the listener is looking forward to There Are Rules strictly for the nostalgia, you’ll may be let down. The album closes with the fiery “Rememorable” where Pryor sings, “I fear that these words may prove fatal // Gonna lay all my cards on the table // Just look how far we’ve come,” a fitting way to end an album that is the start of Chapter Two of what has been a fascinating book so far. 

***.5/*****

*This review was composed by Mike Meeze