Review Summary: Homesick Pt. 2 is (a little) better than Homesick Pt. 1
Now, I feel for one of my best friends -- A Day To Remember is one of his favorite bands, and though he is not an active member on this particular website, he often tells me how much it bothers him that the community here trashes this band in various news posts/reviews. I tell him to just expect it; after all, we
are all sputnikmusic here, right guys? We’re mean, elitist bastards. We like the stuff no one else likes, and if they do like it, then we hate it. A Day To Remember have come down with some sort of virus-ratio throughout their career together, having much in common with the attitude that underflows through the workings of sputnikmusic. You see, ever since starting in 2003, A Day To Remember have become maligned by a growing number of specific music listeners.
The more other people like them, the more people like
us hate them.
Though, this hating goes a little deeper than a matter of popularity -- it’s their music, too. Just take a look at A Day To Remember’s discography and the career path the band has taken. A clear trail can be followed from making a likable blend of melodic metalcore into, what they make presently, commercial pop punk in the
New Found Glory vein -- with some screams. In this sense, the more the band becomes something your little brother would like, the more people like
us hate them.
Yeah, that seems about right.
Remember last year’s
Homesick? Did you hate it, or did you love it? Well, opinions on that album were split right in the middle between the listeners that loved the catchy choruses and lite-in-the-background screams and those that, well, didn’t (like John Hanson). I sat somewhere in the middle (I know, rare), sporting my lovely 2.5 rating like a badge of honor, standing up to my friend and his fandom for A Day To Remember, while understanding why the band was getting more and more popular with a growing number of people: they’re catchy (relatively), and they are kind of like a gateway band to harder things for the kiddies. And they are angsty, too.
This year’s
What Separates Me From You is kind of like A Day To Remember finding what separates their current fans from their critics, you see -- “Me” being their fans, “You” their critics (as I see it). Now, the “Me” will love this album. You could call it a (slightly more) consistent
Homesick, the band building on the formula they were going for with that album, inevitably about to train wreck into the mainstream. The “You”, on the other hand, will hate this album: it will sound generic, sugary-sticky, and angsty,
meh. That’s basically all you need to know; there’s your review for
What Separates Me From You in a nutshell.
Just kidding.
The first highlight from
Homesick Pt. 2 comes with catchy first single “All I Want”. Here’s a song that’s already charted on the modern rock charts, and it’s little wonder with its intensely melodic chorus and “I want a place for my own” lyrics that the teenies seem to love these days. As long as A Day To Remember keep to this format -- I know, it’s sad, but the band is actually better off sounding commercial than sticking to A Day To Remember's roots at this point on
What Separates Me From You – things do go pretty well for them. “2nd Sucks” and opener “Sticks & Bricks” is what A Day To Remember shouldn’t do anymore, however; it’s this breakdown-growled garbage where singer Jeremy McKinnon tries to be death metal and sh
it, and guitarists Neil Westfall and Kevin Skaff get lazy and sound constipated. No. Just no.
Fortunately, this doesn’t happen that often on
What Separates Me From You, though. A Day To Remember are moving farther and farther into commercial territory, and from the sound of it, they are getting better at writing songs and choruses that fit that career path: there are many radio singles on here, folks. Take your pick, really -- “Out of Time” seems primed and ready for a rotation around March of next year, “All I Want” for the next couple of months or so, and probably “This Is The House That Doubt Built” after that for the summer months. A Day To Remember’s guitars play hard, but the vocals of McKinnon, at this point, are getting closer and closer to bringing the band into radio stardom (spot 10 or 11, maybe). How does this fair for sputnikmusic, though? 1 out of 5, probably. My friend? 5 out of 5. And me? Well, I’ll throw down a 3 out of 5. Not too bad, guys. It's a little better than last time, good work.
