Review Summary: Hi, Daisy. We're really alike.
I have always had an issue with religion. I came from a highly-religious Christian family. I was taught to pray every single night and thank God for everything I have, to believe that this invisible, mighty and powerful creature is responsible for all creation and to praise the Lord every single day. I grew up and eventually lost all my faith in God and religion as a whole, although my fear of rotting in hell for eternity remained.
God grew off me completely.
On the other hand, Daisy wasn't an album I liked at first listen. I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it. I used to consider it the worst album by Brand New, one of my favorite bands. It was too noisy for me. Let's say that if Daisy was a God, I didn't believe in it. But I always felt this need to listen to this noisy album every day so I could get why some people hold it in such high regard. It’s been 3 years since that bad first impression.
Daisy grew on me massively.
Daisy opens with a old recording of Bertrand Brown's gospel song "On Life's Highway". A harmonious and beautiful song, indeed. But harmony isn't exactly what is about to come. And only at the 1:25 mark, the listener gets slammed in the face with the heaviest song on Brand New’s catalogue: “Vices”. The guitars blister with distortion. The bass increases the weight of the track abundantly. The drums are viciously pummeled. Vocalist/guitarrist Jesse Lacey doesn’t sing in this song, he literally yells and screams “We need vices” and “These days are dead” from the top of his lungs.
Furthermore, Daisy is a consistent and varied piece of music. After the vicious opener (pun intended), we're gifted with “Bed”, one of the softest performances on the album. It’s mysterious atmosphere for some reason reminds me of sex (come on, “laid her on the bed”, how can one not think of sex with such a line?). The third and fourth tracks Daisy showcases are much more edgy. “At The Bottom” opens with a strumming guitar line by Vin Accardi (from what I’ve heard, he wrote all the lyrics for this album, we’ll get to that later). The band’s performance on this song is top-notch, and although this is the most radio-friendly song in the album, it’s a damn good one at that. Fourth track “Gasoline” is a more fast-paced and heavy song with a creepy atmosphere, while Jesse shouts lyrics like “I swear it’s like dying to catch a ghost” and “I want to know I’ve left the great divide, I want to know what I’ve become”, leaving the listener thinking what all these lyrics mean.
“You Stole” serves as the fifth track of the album. It is the longest song off Daisy, clocking in at the 6-minute mark. One of the most atmospheric, emotional and heartfelt performances of Brand New’s career, and truly worth the 6-minute time mark. “Be Gone”, “Sink” and “Bought A Bride” are the next three tracks.
Some consider “Be Gone” to be the worst song on Daisy because of the chopped vocals and incomprehensible lyrics. But it’s all part of the horror Daisy can cause on the listener’s mind. And if you actually search the lyrics and read them, you actually notice they aren’t as hard to comprehend. A genious interlude, followed by one of the heaviest performances on this album and on Brand New’s career, entitled “Sink”. This song features some of the best lyrics on the entire album, such as “I don’t want to let you go but it hurts my hands to hold the rope” and “If you call then I’m coming to get you, you want to sink so I’m going to let you”. And speaking of good lyrics, another song with brilliant lyricism is the following track, “Bought A Bride”. The lyrics seem to relate the narrator’s loss of hope and faith and his will to give up on everything, including his life.
The three final tracks couldn’t finish the album in a better note. Title track “Daisy” is the last “soft” song on the album. It kicks off with a man’s voice presenting “a grand old message”, entitled “Just As I Am”. It’s fitting due to the song’s lyrics. Basically the narrator speaks of himself with negative metaphors, such as “I’m a mountain that has been moved, I’m a river that is all dried up” and “I’m a mouth that doesn’t smile, I’m a word that no one ever wants to say”. Tenth track “In A Jar” clocks at the exact same time as “Daisy” (3:06). It precedes Daisy’s closer perfectly, being a song with a negative and depressive atmosphere, filled with blistering guitar riffs, thunderous drum playing and shrieks with a truly emotional vocal delivery.
The album closes with the song "Noro", a bass-filled, groovy and heavy 6-minute closer that illustrates the character's demise, ending up regretful for not having believed in God and condemned to rot in Hell for eternity. When Jesse shouts "I'm on my way to Hell", it gives me more chills than anything ever did. I actually get scared because I fear my fate turns out to be the exact same as the Daisy character's if I refuse to believe in God. After all the heaviness, the album ends in the same note it begun: with the beautiful old recording of Bertrand Brown's "On Life's Highway", which gives this album a sadder tone than "Taps" could ever give to any funeral.
But the deal with Daisy is more than just the music. It's the way the lyrics completely match the music and are just as ruthless, sinister and straight-forward. I’ve heard that guitarist Vin Accardi wrote the lyrics for this album. Gone are the mysterious lyrical metaphors used by Jesse on previous albums. Vin was the right lyricist for this album, since it is one with a direct approach, the lyrics follow pretty much that same way of approach.
From my interpretation, Daisy takes the religious concept first presented on Brand New's highly-acclaimed 2006 release "The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me", especially on the songs "Jesus" and "You Won't Know" and serves as the tragic final chapter for this story. If "Jesus" represented the doubt within the character's mind whether he should or shouldn't believe in a savior watching the world up from above the highest heavens, Daisy erases any shade of doubt and belief, dragging the character down to the lowest Hell.
That's what I fear that happens to me if I don't believe in God. I relate to the creepy horror story that this album’s straight-forward lyrics represent and to the moody and sinister atmosphere that surrounds this album.
I never thought I would enjoy Daisy this much. I actually never thought I'd enjoy Brand New's music at all. I never thought I would relate to this album's twisted lyrics and heavy sound. I never thought I'd regain the faith I had in God and religion as a little kid, or at least part of it, and I never, never ever thought I would pray to God again, asking solely for a sign of His existence so I can determine what I should believe in.
Believe me, Daisy. I did.
