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Review Summary: EZcore kings Four Year Strong back on form with hard hitting EP. Four Year Strong are highly regarded as one of the kings of the "EZcore" subgenre of pop punk which is used to describe bands that combine the upbeat melodies and hooks of pop-punk with the aggressive stylings of hardcore and to a lesser extent metalcore, such as breakdowns, double-bass drumming, dual guitars and the harsh vocals. Dan and Alan's dual vocal performance on virtually every track is more than a little chaotic, at times it is hard to keep track of who is singing at any given time but like the duel vocals of bands like Blink-182, it works spectacularly well. Go Down In History is the follow up to 2011's disappointing "In Some Way, Shape Or Form" a lukewarm attempt at stadium rock that never really got off the ground, but you have to learn from your mistakes and press onwards which is exactly what FYS have done here, they have given us a 5 track glimpse into the future of what they can do and what they are striving for, what is that exactly? Well this is a proclamation that they can write great EZcore, monumental hooks that smash you over the head and catchy choruses that will be stuck in your head for days on end. Enemy of The World is in my opinion, their best work but this is a damn close second place that's for sure.
Opening track "What's In The Box?" sets the tone for the EP with opening line "It's time to set the record straight". With guitar riffs so sharp you could cut down a tree with them and a jabbing chorus that pulls all the punches and knocks you clean out "If you try to take me out, you best break all my bones, so before you mess it all up, make sure like hell you don't" and these boys have really heeded their own words and haven't made a misstep here. The energy and momentum are kept sky high on follow up track "Living Proof of A Stubborn Youth" a big summer anthem with a big bridge and chorus which will sure as hell get any crowd pumped up and bouncing. Next we hit "Tread Lightly" the mid-way point on the EP, what can i say the drums and guitars are blisteringly fast and the vocal harmonies in the chorus are very easy on the ears and a nice touch to the song.
Next we rock into the title track and boy is it one hell of a banger, one thing FYS has always done well is gang vocals and they really shine here, the hooks are huge, the chorus is great, a bridge that can get anyone screaming along at the top of their lungs this is definitely one of FYS's best songs to date. Now we meet our closing track "So You're Saying There's A Chance" and it sums up this EP pretty well, blistering guitars, gang vocals, big sing-along choruses and is a fitting close to an EP showcasing the "best of" FYS, of what they can do and what they should do in the future.
Overall "Go Down In History" is one hell of a party and everyone is invited to come along and have a good time, they have taken everything we love about them and slammed it into a 5 song EP and shoved in our face. A gigantic step back on track and then some, if there is more of this to come, then I'm pretty damn excited.
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Album Rating: 4.0
Also I meant to put this at the end of the review, but if anyone has any advice and tips about the structure, grammar, punctuation etc then please tell me, please and thank you.
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Nah dude, it's best to put that sort of thing in the comments than the review anyway. I'm going through it at the moment, there's a fair amount I'm afraid but I'll try and be constructive :]
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pixies - doolittle
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Good review. I would omit the part where you say "Next we rock" and replace it with something like "The title track..." but still a great review 
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good band prob won't listen tho
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I'd say the biggest issue this review has are the informalities strewn across. Throwaway fragments of a sentence such as 'what can I say' are almost never appropriate for a review, same goes for 'boy is it one hell of a banger' and the overuse of the word 'damn'. Try to avoid using 'we' in a review as well; instead, look for a more impersonal phrase.
As far as grammar goes, the run on sentence seems to be the main offender here. My suggestion would be to read it out loud, and apply the appropriate gaps in speech that a full stop and a comma would give. If you find yourself running out of breath, or the sentence sounds clunky, you probably need a full stop in there somewhere. For example:
Now we meet our closing track "So You're Saying There's A Chance" and it sums up this EP pretty well, blistering guitars, gang vocals, big sing-along choruses and is a fitting close to an EP showcasing the "best of" FYS, of what they can do and what they should do in the future.
This is one such sentence that's too long. As you're listing features, a good place for the full stop would be after 'pretty well'. There'd need to be a slight rework of the section after (to 'with blistering guitars, gang vocals and big sing-along choruses, it's a fitting close to an EP...), but it'd be easier than a block.
Sorry for the wall of text, but I hope something in here helps :]
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Thanks for the advice Archelirion, I'll bear all of that in mind when I'm writing in the future, thanks again for taking the time out to point these out to me.
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Remove phrases such as 'in my opinion', state things confidently as if they're fact, people still know it's just your opinion.
Perhaps most importantly, your sentences are much too long. Just take the intro, it would benefit from being broken down into shorter, sharper sentences. Even taking your first sentence, if you read it out loud you'd have to take a deep breath halfway through, that's as good an indicator as you'll find.
Not bad at all though man. Take a pos.
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great username btw
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
Seriously? You almost flat-out stole entire sentences from my review that's been up for close to two years. Not cool.
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