Music Reviews
A Day To Remember “What Separates Me From You”
A Day To Remember“What Separates Me From You”
Genre: Metalcore/Post-Hardcore/Pop Punk
Label: Victory
Format: CD
Year: 2010
Tracklisting:
01. Sticks & Bricks
02. All I Want
03. It's Complicated
04. This Is the House That Doubt Built
05. 2nd Sucks
06. Better Off This Way
07. All Signs Point to Lauderdale
08. You Be Tails, I'll Be Sonic
09. Out Of Time
10. If I Leave
While their fourth release What Separates Me From You (Nov. 16, 2010) may not have delivered on their promise to top 2009’s Homesick, A Day To Remember once again finds a relatively unlikely mix of pop-punk and metalcore that will separate them from many of the bands today. Pop-punk and metalcore are not things I would put together on any other day but in A Day To Remember’s case, I always make an exception. Usually, I try to steer clear of anything with the words pop or punk in them but with producer Chad Gilbert behind the board, ADTR somehow found a way to make me not cringe at the words.
What Separates Me From You definitely hooked me with the opening track “Sticks and Bricks”. Instantly, you are brought into the heavier side of ADTR’s personality. Heaviness and breakdowns find a way to mesh with the melody of the chorus in what is probably one of my personal favorites of the album along with “2nd Sucks” and “You Be Tails, I’ll Be Sonic”. My obvious bias is towards their heavier tracks though I found myself listening to the whole album on repeat and, with each listen, it found a way to grow on me more and more. It is an album that offers a little bit of something for everyone (unless you are only into Black and Death Metal and refuse to think anything else exists). There are tracks with mosh calls such as the declaration of Fight! at the beginning of “2nd Sucks” that make you want to break whatever is in site, coupled with sing-a-longs like “All I Want” and just plain old standard pop-punk format. Even included on the album is a dark, brooding almost-ballad “This Is The House That Doubt Built”. The emotional lyrics from Frontman Jeremy McKinnon range from lost love to offering up challenges to those that still doubt the abilities of this band. Lyrically and musically, you cannot find yourself in a bad mood after listening to this album in its entirety.
All technical musical aspects of the album are solid. Sometimes, I feel the band spent a little too much time in the studio because of some moments where McKinnon’s screams seem a tad overproduced but those are very, very few and far between. After Homesick, I feel that ADTR can still do better than the finished product for What Separates Me From You. In no way, shape, or form do I think that this is a bad album. I actually love it a lot. I just feel they are trying too hard to become an all-radio album rather than the sound and style that earned them so much praise and brought them to the forefront that we heard on Homesick.
With a couple more heavy tracks, the album would become more balanced and would be what was expected with the promises the band and producers made before writing the album. Despite its few downfalls, What Separates Me From You is a record that is meant to be played blaringly loud, sung along too, moshed around to, and loved. The album is worth the listen and the money but it falls a little short in the well-rounded record I was expecting after Homesick. Their formula works, end of story. I will definitely be waiting and anticipating the fifth installment, whenever that may come.
[...] site hasn’t been too Effing Bored lately as they took like two and a half months to write a review for A Day To Remember’s new album but it’s a pretty good review so we’ll let them off the hook…this time [...]