Reach the Sky continues to purvey its
Pennywise-meets-the-East-Coast sound on Friends, Lies, and the End of the World, and a comparison to
H2O is not unwarranted. Like
H2O, the group's immersed positive feel is certainly laudable, but the pop-punk/hardcore formula gets tired as the disc plays on. Relative to similar albums, there's not much that elevates Friends, Lies, and the End of the World above the glut; it lacks, for example, the knack for songwriting displayed on
H2O's Thicker Than Water or the heaviness of
Insted's
What We Believe. But for the self-conscious kid who just had his/her mind blown by
NOFX or
Gorilla Biscuits for the first time,
Reach the Sky still has at least a few hooks that will tug the heartstrings and get the blood flowin'. ~ Matthew Kantor