Brand New's latest album, Deja Entendu showed a darker side of the band and the bands unoriginality. The songs had the same quite verse- louder chorus formula on each song and to a point it got frustrating to the listener. But how was the band before that? Your Favorite Weapon portrays Brand New, at its youngest stage, lyrically, emotionally, and instrumentally. But the album can be summed up in one word. Brand New debut album is definitely catchy. The best comparison within the genre is Taking Back Sunday's Tell All Your Friends, were the surrounding lyrics and instruments weren't always there but the catchiness carried the album to excellence.
The Shower Scene starts out with a rocking riff with many weird pauses in the beat, you can barely hear the vocals. This is cool and all, but I look for the first track on the album to give you a good preview of what is to come, and the Shower Scene doesn't do that well. The chorus is pretty catchy but the song is just supposed to give momentum to the next track. The ending of the song is all right with the line " I hate you for your face just not the things you do", but the song doesn't have much staying power and in my opinion isn't one of the top notch songs of the album.
Lyrically no song can match Jude Law A Semester Aboard, and you can actually hear the catchy and well-done lines surrounding the perfect and fun chorus. This is what you have to miss most about BN the emotion in the songs in this album is just priceless. "Even if your plane crashes tonight you'll find a way to disappoint me" is one of my favorite lines of the album. The end of this song probably could have had the same words as the end of "Seventy Times Seven", but Brand New chose to just have one simple line repeated over and over, but it works.
"Sudden Death In Carolina" is probably were Brand New is at the height of there immaturity with there lyrics. But again with every pop-punk album it seems if you have a chorus that is very good and can get stuck in the listener’s head, you've got a hit. And this track has a very good pre-chorus and chorus but the surrounding lyrics are horrible and bland. For a third track this song was kind of a disappointment.
"Mix Tape", is a great song. The lyrics still have the emotion of the previous three tracks but it is an acoustic, and it adds another dimension to this bands work. The song does great with the band singing duel vocals the whole time so it's almost like the band is singing the chorus the whole time. A great song.
"Failure By Design" along with the previous track is probably the peak of the album. The chorus is very good and it doesn't even have to be catchy to be good, I swear the chorus could have been screamed at the top of there lungs, or in a soft acoustic form and it would still work. The beat sounds similar to "Sudden Death In Carolina" but the lyrical work is much better in my opinion. The end of the song is perfect with that simple riff and Brand New screaming lines in the background and it just fits perfectly unto the song. Great song.
"Last Chance To Lose Your Keys" comes out with a riff almost identical to the 2nd track on the bands first album, but the song is a bit slower. The song is centered on the chorus, yet again. But I think the best part of the song is the end of the song when the band members sing in unison "This isn't high school", "This isn't high school".
"Logan To Government Center" despite its weird title, is a pretty mellow and good song. The lyrics are probably some of the best on the album, "Consider me the boy you left with, or you can live without” The chorus is OK for once on the album and not very catchy, but the surrounding lyrics really get the job done in the 7th track on the album.
"The No Seatbelt Song" is the softest song on the album. No duel vocals, No hard riffs, just a plain out acoustic song. The lines in this song really lead perfectly up to the chorus "It's only you beautiful..." The surrounding lines in the song are great as well, and this is the perfect preview of Deja Entendu in my opinion. American Idol judges say you can either have "Safe" songs or "Risky" songs, and this was a Risky song by Brand New that worked out beautifully.
"Seventy Times Seven" is one of the best pop-punk songs of the 2000's. The songs lyrics are aggressive and brilliantly done; the riff is hardcore and speedy just like the tracks vocal. "Don't apologize I hope you choke and die" is one of the main sing along lyrics in the album, but after the chorus, one of the greatest pop-punk lyrical sessions of all time happens.
" Is that what you call a get away
Tell me what you got away with
I've seen more spine in a jellyfish
I've seen more guts in an eleven-year-old kid
So you can think of me when you forget your seatbelt
And again when your head goes through the windshield."
The song is creativity is superb and its lyrically quality is almost unheard of in the pop-punk world. This song may be as good as Taking Back Sunday's "There's No I In Team" which is a part of the two immature bands arguments. Only time will tell which song has more staying power, but Brand New definitely hit a grand slam on this one.
"Secondary" is a horrible song following the classic the band had just made. In average song and the band probably just figured they would throw it onto the album. But the song has no lyrical chemistry between the two singers; the sing longs in this song are very dull. The chorus is very unoriginal, and the song has no staying power. The tracks drum work is very well done and so is the guitar work for the genre. Another good song.
"Magazines" is a good track. The lyrics don't really come out at you as being agressive and risk taking but they still fit well into the song. The end of the song is brillance and the band has really improved the end of there songs throughout the album.
"Soco Amaretto Lime" is probably the second best song on the album behind "Seventy Times Seven". The song is very soft, acoustic, but the lyrics are what makes it timeless. Sure the chorus has carried Brand New through the whole album, but these are the best surrounding lyrics on the album. Not a Deja Entendu song, but if every song were like this on a pop-punk album, the album would sell tons of copies. The admiration people have for this song is incredible, the song was chosen as my brother’s graduation song. Now if that isn't respect I don't know what is. The chorus is tear-jerking brilliance, and it almost wants to make you clap every time you hear it. The third mellow song on this album is probably the best, and it carries Brand New to new heights.
In conclusion Brand New's energy packed first album, does a justice to everyone who loves pop punk and two dimension bands. Sure some of these songs can be some of your typical pop-punk songs, but others can be brilliant acoustic songs like the last track on the album. This proved what direction Brand New was moving until they took a step towards nowhere with there second full-length album. A great collaboration of work.
Track By Track Ratings:
1 Shower Scene (2:24) 3/5
2 Jude Law and a Semester Abroad (3:40) 4.5/5
3 Sudden Death in Carolina (3:02) 3.5/5
4 Mix Tape (3:58) 5/5
5 Failure by Design (3:15) 4.5/5
6 Last Chance to Lose Your Keys (3:25) 3.5/5
7 Logan to Government Center (3:03) 3.5/5
8 No Seatbelt Song (4:30) 4.5/5
9 Seventy Times 7 (3:33) 5/5
10 Secondary (3:01) 2.5/5
11 Magazines (2:50) 3.5/5
12 Soco Amaretto Lime 5/5
