At the beginning of 1997, Symposium was labeled one of the best new bands in Britain by the music weeklies, on the basis of a handful of singles and live shows. By the time the band released their debut mini-album,
One Day at a Time, in October, they had fallen out of favor and it's not hard to see why -- their by-the-books pop-punk isn't particularly inventive or melodic, the kind of music that sounds much better in concert than it does on record. Symposium sounds like a second-rate
Ash, without the hooks or energy to make
One Day at a Time worth repeated listens. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine