Aqua Timez - Carpe Diem - Needs a little more "carpe"

I was happy with this album. The sound Aqua Timez has is something like Yellowcard, especially when the get the real live violin in on the action. The songs are catchy, they move you, and they're upbeat. I really liked "Memento Mori," which had a much harder rock sound and better bass than everything else on the album, but all the songs are pretty good. The band does seem to suffer a bit for having a very high opinion of their own music: often I thought that songs went on longer than they needed to, like the band just wanted you to realized how goddamn awesome their songs are. Eh. My other problem was that I found the music on this album rather typical. The music is good...I just feel like I've heard similar things before. The addition of the violin is novel, but the music itself doesn't strike me as being all that unique.