The Possibility and the Promise

AMG Review of The Possibility and the Promise

John D. Luerssen
All Music Guide

On the heels of their 2004 debut EP, Fading Days, the youthful Federal Way, WA-based emo-punk stalwarts in Amber Pacific return with a heightened presence of ock muscle on The Possibility and the Promise. Launching the album with the scorching, emotive "Everything We Were Has Become What We Are" -- which goes so far as to incorporate a string section at one point -- the bandmembers exhibit a musical depth beyond their early twenties, even if the simplistic Dashboard Confessional-like lyrics seem so high school. Still, frontman Matt Young is a star in waiting, as his peers borrow from everyone from Thrice to Matchbook Romance to AFI. Those punk and pop-punk inspirations aren't bad ones, as the hook-laden "Gone So Young" and the sappy punch of "The Right to Write Me Off" assure, and with time and little more ingenuity Amber Pacific could make the big time.