Review Summary: A Day To Remember x More Pop Punk - unnecessary breakdowns = Pop Punk champions
A Day To Remember's previous album 'Homesick' was a failure in many fans eyes, replacing many of the memorable songs from 'For Those Who Have Heart' and 'And Their Name With Treason' with more simplistic songs lacking in any real individuality, the breakdowns were generic, the lyrics amateur and the overall tone resembled a band who didn't really know what they wanted to be. It had it's moments sure, 'Have Faith In Me' is an excellent song packed with an epic chorus and an emotional vocal delivery, and 'If It Means a Lot to You' proves that they can effectively write a ballad. However, overall the album was weak in comparison to previous efforts and felt, well messy.
A Day To Remember are back, and it finally seems they have some clarity as to what kind of band they want to be. This album is bursting at the seams with radio friendly pop punk hits. Songs such as "It's Complicated" and 'Better Off this Way' are bursting with melody and emotion. With Jeremy Mckinnon delivering lines such as "You're not the person that I knew back then, let's try and act like this didn't happen, follow your friends like you ever had them" and 'You still know me, not cut out for this sort of thing'. The passion and honesty of the lyrics combined with the catchy melodies and 'woah oh ohs' make for an album built for repeated listens, being only 10 songs long and 33 minutes in length works in the bands favor. The best thing about this album is that A Day To Remember seem to have finally found the right balance of clean and harsh vocals, and the breakdowns; whilst minimal they actually feel necessary when used, one of the key issues to Homesick is that the breakdowns felt like they were there simply for the sake of breakdowns.
A Day To Remember have created their best song in 'All I Want' a hard hitting pop punk song destined for arenas and stadiums. Other songs utilize what could be described as 'classic A Day To Remember' songs such as 'Sticks and Bricks' and "You Be Tails, I'll be Sonic" this is blend the perfect balance of metalcore vocals and pop punk choruses, sure to go down as fan favorites. The band provide enough variety for the music to excite and makes for great listening. The lyrics, no matter how cliched, whiny and petulant they may be are still honest and heartfelt.
It's when the band tries to hard to be 'Brutal' that they fall '2nd Sucks' is a perfect example of this, it's essentially a 2 minute breakdown possessing nothing particularly memorable or worthwhile. With the good they've done on 'What Separates Me From You' it's mind boggling as to why A Day To Remember feel the need to include a song like this, it serves no purpose other than to possibly please longtime fans looking for some 'heavy old-school' A Day To Remember, but it just doesn't come of as sincere or work particularly well, leave the breakdowns to Parkway Drive eh boys?.
Other than the one true misfire of the album (2nd Sucks) there really isn't much to complain about here, 'What Separates Me From You' won't make you change your mind if you hated them before but, it will bring more fans and larger venues as well as keeping longtime fans happy. Want an album full of catchy pop punks with addictive choruses and enchanting melodies? look no further than A Day To Remember.
