Cobra Starship is a special kind of band. Firstly, let me remind you that they are, indeed, a band. With recent singles like “Good Girls Go Bad (feat. Leighton Meester)” and “Hot Mess,” it’s hard to remember that Cobra is a quintet, featuring actual instruments. Featuring Gabe Saporta, Ryland Blackinton, Victoria Asher, Nate Novarro, and Alex Suarez, their music sounds like a one man show, two if you count Victoria on the keytar (yup, keytar). Secondly, Cobra Starship are hipster’s favorite band. Since their debut on the Snakes on a Plane soundtrack, they’ve been almost a standard in the Hot Topic, having to be one of the last lines that connects alternative music to the pop/dance scene. Which is pretty funny, cause they have also successfully blurred that line.

Now with their fourth-coming album “Night Shades,” they successfully jump that line.

Night Shades starts out with “You Belong To Me,” a mellow piano pop song, something that could easily make it to pop radio stations…as an alternative song.

And just after one song, the album does a 180, and goes into some dance-floor pop music. Their first single “You Make Me Feel…(feat. Sabi),” is an electric club starter with one of the catchiest hooks of the year. “#1 Nite” follows suit, as it’s another dance song that pop music radio stations will undoubtedly gravitate towards. One of my favorites is the final track, “Schwick (feat. Jump Into the Gospel).” Not only does it stick with the party theme, but it also has actual instruments in it, which gives Cobra Starship some credibility as a band.

This might be an incredibly catchy album, but it does have some large flaws. “Middle Finger (feat. Mac Miller” isn’t a Cobra track at all, just a highlight track for Miller to give his best Wiz Khalifa impression on. “Don’t Blame The World, It’s The DJ’s Fault” is more of the same dance style, just with one incredibly repetitive loop which just gets annoying. Also, I wished they would utilize everyone in the group more than just a couple of songs. Ryland and Alex are not bad instrumentalists (guitar and bass respectively), they are just underused.

And as a small pet peeve of mine, like I’ve stated in other reviews, the album is way too short. Lasting just under 40 minutes with ten tracks, it’s sad that they couldn’t produce more, especially how all of these songs sound so similar to one another.

The best part about this album is Gabe Saporta, which isn’t that much of a suprise. Saporta is a great pop singer, and one of the better ones that is signed to Decayedance (behind Craig Owens and Brendan Urie). I wish that he’d pull a Patrick Stump and go his own way, instead of carrying the name and the other four members on his back. Of course, this is all my opinion.

After Night Shades, I can no longer call Cobra Starship alternative. They are dance-pop 100%. The album, admittedly, is incredibly catchy. Any fan of theirs will not be dissapointed with their newest release, while new fans will most likely just pick and choose from their multiple singles that they can put out. That’s at least what I’m going to do.

Final Grade: C

Go Download: “You Make Me Feel…(feat. Sabi)

You can listen to the album in its entirety here.