Review
Do you remember what you were doing on March 5th, 2021? Playing outside in the sun? No, it was a shitty day. Looking to a Press Conference from the Prime Minister? Maybe. One thing for sure: it was not a day to remember…
Long time ago, we were so excited when a new A Day To Remember’s album was on the way. Even for a single. Their mix of pop-punk and post-hardcore was unique. Well, until 2013. When we think about them now, 2 albums come to our mind: “Homesick” and “What Separates Me From You”. What do they have in common? They sound great, don’t have bad songs and also have more than 10 years. The band from Florida has been active since then of course: “Common Courtesy” (2013), “Bad Vibrations” (2016) and now “You’re Welcome”. But compared to the first albums mentioned, they look really bad.
A DESCENT INTO HELL STARTED IN 2013
We won’t beat around the bush: the level of this new opus from the Yanks, “You’re Welcome”, is close to nothing. If it was the first record of a young band, we would be much more lenient. No doubt about it. But when a band has more than 15 years of existence, it’s indecent to release a new album with so few ideas. Especially after more than 3 years of writing. Between the tracks that smell like old songs (Resentment, Degenaretes), the tracks that sound like a pale imitation of Fall Out Boy (BloodSucker, F.Y.M, High Diving), the ones that we force ourselves to listen to at least once (Looks Like Hell, Permanent, Only Money, Re-Entry) and the ones that don’t make us laugh anymore after so many bad tracks (Viva La Mexico), there’s nothing to remember about this record. Or almost. The opening track, Brick Wall, is ok. Especially compared to the rest. And the ballad that closes the album is rather pleasant and confirms 2 things: firstly, Jeremy is still a very good singer in all the registers of the band (heavy, pop, acoustic); secondly, the quintet still manages to compose very beautiful ballads. Nevertheless, to retain only one beautiful ballad for a band such as A Day To Remember is sad. Of course, one of their biggest hits is If It Means A Lot To You released on “Homesick” but everyone knows that all the other tracks are real gems.
However, this cheap album of the band is not a surprise. Unfortunately. To tell the truth, we didn’t have any particular expectations for this new record. The previous one, “Bad Vibrations”, was very disappointing. A Day To Remember had tried a more rock approach but the sauce had not taken. In 2013, “Common Courtesy” had already not convinced all their fans, lacking a little pep. And before releasing the 5 (!) singles to promote “You’re Welcome”, we had even had the right to a track in collaboration with Marshmallow called Rescue Me… a track that we quickly forgot and that didn’t announce anything good for the future.
The band has totally lost this bit of madness that characterized them. Their pop-punk and post-hardcore mix was always a hit before. Whether it was with songs of one style, another or a mix of both. But, here, it’s their pop-punk side that took over but in such a silly and cliché way…
This review is short but there is not more to say about this album which will be for sure one of the biggest disappointments of this year 2021. We can only hope that the first post-Covid concerts will not be too much concentrated on this record…