Brand New - The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me Review

Brand New The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me

full review

Tracklist:
Sowing Season (Yeah )
Millstone
Jesus Christ
Degausser
Limousine
You Won't Know
Welcome to Bangkok
Not the Sun
Luca
Untitled
Archers
Handcuffs

Release Date: 2006

Ranking: #27 for 2006

user rating

4.4
superb

Chart.

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On 274 Lists

5.0
classic

Channing Freeman STAFF (73 Reviews)

2008-10-26 | 880 comments | 15,564 views

Summary: Well Jesus Christ, I'm alone again, so what did you do those three days you were dead? Because this problem's gonna last more than the weekend.

One of my favorite experiences in life is the moment when you reach a deeper level of connection with an artist, album, or song. I remember when Jane Doe clicked, I remember when I finally loved As the Roots Undo, I remember when I realized just how much In the Aeroplane Over the Sea means to me. Recently, the whole of Brand New's The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me has been there for me through some difficult times, but specifically the song "Limousine" has taken on a deeper meaning. My friend died in a car accident a few days ago, and there was alcohol involved, so the subject matter of the song is oddly fitting. I find myself listening to it when I'm uncertain of what to listen to next, singing the first half of the song and screaming the second half, wearing myself out to the point where I don't pick something else to listen to, I just start the album from the beginning.

The interesting thing about this album (as well as Deja Entendu) is that they both have a sort of "coagulatory" nature about them, as in the first few tracks lack a certain flow but as the album progresses, everything starts to coagulate, coming together to create flow and atmosphere that continues from song to song. On Deja Entendu, "Sic Transit Gloria...", "I Will Play My Game...", and "Okay, I Believe You..." seemed randomly placed at the beginning of the album. When "The Quiet Things..." starts, the album takes on a more atmospheric, almost dark tone and the album starts to feel like a whole rather than a series of parts that don't add up to much. It gives the first tracks more meaning because you can literally watch the album come together. It's like watching puzzle pieces fall into place. The Devil and God... takes that to the next level by creating songs that flow even throughout their different moods, something that Brand New didn't do very well on Deja because a lot of the songs had the same feel about them. It didn't make them any less powerful, but Brand New have shown a great progression here, perhaps even greater than they did from Your Favorite Weapon to Deja Entendu. While most bands of Brand New's ilk would be just discovering effects pedals on their third album, Brand New have created a personal masterpiece of songwriting and emotional power.

Making the album even more impressive is the well-known fact that the band's demos leaked in early 2006. Brand New could have taken the easy route, finishing the songs that leaked, mastering them, and releasing them, but they didn't. They wrote a whole new album, one that is completely different aside from two songs that made it onto the finished album after being reworked. Most of the demos had a decidedly "Deja" sound and although it's unfortunate that the leak occurred, it was probably the best thing that could have happened to Brand New because it forced them to rewrite the album with an even greater purpose and attention to detail. The album starts with "Sowing Season (Yeah)" one of the two reworked demos. It certainly starts the album out with gusto, showing a few key differences between the album and Deja Entendu immediately. Firstly, a more aggressive vocal style in the chorus sees Jesse Lacey improving his singing beyond what he showed on Deja, which was his regular singing voice and an admittedly weak scream that thankfully only showed up a few times. In "Sowing Season" the aggressiveness isn't shown through a scream but rather an intense yet melodic yell that he utilizes in many of the album's songs, most notably "You Won't Know." Secondly, the riff in the chorus shows a musical progression as well. On their two previous albums, Brand New showed themselves to be skilled and competent musicians, but they relied on power chords and other conventional techniques too much. "Sowing Season" features a fitting chorus lead that differentiates itself from the vocals while still complementing them, a welcome change from other rock bands whose chorus leads lazily mimic the vocal line. In a way, the lead creates its own vocal line, its expressive bends and ascending/descending pattern sounding like words. The song is a fitting goodbye to Brand New's former sound.

"Degausser" is when the album reaches heights previously unheard of for Brand New. It combines the best parts of "Me vs. Maradona vs. Elvis" and "Guernica" to create something new, the bridge emulating the former while the dark tone of the song emulating the latter. Inventive percussion, multiple guitar tracks, and a ridiculous vocal performance from Lacey cements "Degausser" as one of Brand New's best songs. It's the first song on the record where you can really see Brand New's songwriting skills at work. The song consists of three major parts, all appearing in the song twice with additions and subtractions to give them different tones. It's an excellent show of creativity, using a repetitive template to make something that doesn't feel repetitive at all. The chorus lead builds off of what was heard on "Sowing Season," starting on the B and G strings and then unexpectedly sliding up into the higher registers of the E string. There's enough going on in the song's chorus to make it seem like a new experience every time you listen to it. "You Won't Know" was previously my least favorite song on the album, but it has recently worked its way into my top three. The intro is a guitar and viola playing the same riff quietly and placidly for the first verse before the song explodes into a second verse with some of Lacey's most aggressive vocals. The song is amazingly dense while still retaining instrumental and vocal clarity, and it comes full circle with the last verse imitating the first one. This album is an emotional rollercoaster, going through ups and downs, cheerful energy and intense dark parts, sometimes in the same song.

The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me is Jesse Lacey's finest moment and it would be very surprising if he can top his performance on this album on their next release. Apart from singing that is equal parts emotional, aggressive, and tuneful, Lacey shows an incredible knack for dual and sometimes triple vocal harmonies. In many songs there will be two or three vocal parts at once, all doing something completely different, all singing amazing lyrics, and all catchy as hell. The best example of this is "Limousine." It is Lacey's best song lyrically as well. Called repetitive by some, I believe it to be a pinnacle of modern songwriting. Written about Katie Flynn, who was killed in a drunk driving accident, the song seems to go through the steps of grieving, denial, and acceptance. It starts out darkly mellow with acoustic chords and subdued vocals before getting louder with distortion and a sort of droning aggression from Lacey. The next section is melodic and almost cheerful with one of his best lines, "In the choir I saw our sad Messiah; he was bored and tired of my laments, he said, 'I died for you one time but never again.'" The song then proceeds to revert back to a similar manner to the way it started with a repeated line of "Well I love you so much, but do me a favor baby and don't reply, 'cuz I can dish it out but I can't take it." Lacey then replaces "I" with the numbers one through seven (the age of Katie Flynn). It may seem to be a pointless touch but it's clever and it gives the song a greater sense of buildup and tension. He repeats "Seven loves you so much..." a few times with a background melody growing exponentially louder with each repeat until the song climaxes yet again with an impressively expressive solo. "Limousine" is not only the pinnacle of The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me but of Brand New's entire career.

Other key moments include the bridge of "Not the Sun," which slows the song's fast-paced tempo down a few notches for one of the album's catchiest and most poignant moments; the simple yet powerful drumming in the instrumental "Welcome to Bangkok"; the climax of "Luca," which is a supreme example of Brand New's mastery of tense buildup and release; and the energy of "The Archer's Bows Are Broken." This last song in particular is great because of what it leads up to. In a similar fashion to Deja Entendu, The Devil and God...'s culminatory climax comes with the second to last track. "Archers" is a lively, noisy romp, so much so that "Handcuffs" seems completely out of left field at first. However, it soon proves itself to be a perfect closer for the record. Wonderfully moody and atmospheric, the song builds up without ever resorting to distortion or aggressiveness, instead using a cello and a repeated overlapping vocal lines. Once again Brand New show that they frowned upon conventional and generic tactics for this album.

The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me is an intensely personal album for me, and as such I consider it a classic. I can listen to it anytime, anywhere, and it never gets old. It features one of the largest progressions I have ever seen from a band, and what makes that even more impressive is how much they progressed from Your Favorite Weapon to Deja Entendu. Most bands don't show that sort of growth even once throughout their career but Brand New have done it twice. Jesse Lacey shows that you don't have to spend time breaking down in a mental hospital to be a perfectionist about your music. Every song has a jaw-dropping moment and the album as a whole is even more impressive than its best parts. Brand New are burning bright. Let's hope they don't run out.

I'll never have to buy adjacent plots of earth
We'll never have to rot together underneath dirt
I'll never have to lose my baby in the crowd
I should be laughing right now

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