Review Summary: "...I've always been the one to stick around".
It's tough to approach discussing new music by Four Year Strong without coming off as biased and hyperbolic, considering they just so happen to be my favorite band of all time. 2010's
Enemy of The World was
the album that made me want to pursue double-bass drumming, and as far that deplorable subgenre (you know which one) is concerned, you'd be hard pressed to find an album that rivals the gargantuan hooks, angsty lyricism, to-die-for riffs and overall fun factor that was that album – shy of Set Your Goals' superb
This Will Be The Death of Us that came out the preceding year. It's been ten years since Four Year Strong dropped the definitive pop-punk album of the summer and five years since their return to form with their excellent
self-titled album.
Alas, Four Year Strong has a handful of duds in their discography as well; ranging from a misfired attempt at reaching mainstream success and a ho-hum cover record that did little to appease fans, making it tough to know exactly what to make of a Four Year Strong album in 2020, now that the subgenre they helped popularize has all but vanished alongside many of their contemporaries. How fitting then that
Brain Pain feels like a new-found florescence of the band and the genre as a whole, seeing how it's brimming with the same excitement and vigorous, youthful energy that made their earlier outings so entertaining. From the first seconds of opener "It's Cool", the guitars are set to stun, front and center and never wavering in quality or intensity. From there,
Brain Pain is an album back-loaded with quotable hooks and a rhythm section that borders on earth-shattering – easily the heaviest bass and drum work courtesy of Joe Weiss and Jake Massucco, respectively, of any Four Year Strong album.
The dual-pronged guitar and vocal attack of front men Alan Day and Dan O' Connor is on full display as well, showcased on all 12 songs, with the most memorable riffs finding their home on the aforementioned opener, as well as "Get Out of My Head" and the mosh-primed "Usefully Useless" and "Mouth Full of Dirt". The albums few surprises come in the form of unusually heavy moments; no doubt the product of opting for renowned metal & hardcore producer Will Putney. "Crazy Pills" is an absolute wall of sound in the best possible way, bordering on full-on heavy metal. Elsewhere, the slightly clichéd but all too catchy "Seventeen" sees the band reflecting on their youth in a gleeful, bittersweet manner with all the swaggering riffs to back it up. Lyrically, the band has finally strayed away from the tiring mantra of "taking on the world", being "at the top of the world", or being an "enemy of the world", in favoring of questioning their own sanity and mental health amidst setbacks and grievances. It's a step forward for a band that has rarely taken many risks in the lyrical department, even if it occasionally still falls into cheesy territory.
Brain Pain is a record that encapsulates the glory days of when melding pop-punk with melodic hardcore was considered "cool", all while tapping into the core strengths of Four Year Strong as band. It's uncompromising in its intensity and catchiness, all while remaining a fitting evolution of their sound with subtle nuances in their song writing, coupled with top-notch production values. There's still no other comparable band out there with riffs and hooks this moment-to-moment entertaining and although I'd hesitate to call it their finest effort to date, it's at the very least the best album they could've made at this point in their lifespan – squishing any misconceptions that a two-decade long career had taken its toll on the Worcester quartet. More than anything, Four Year Strong's latest excursion is a hell-of-a-good time and a valiant effort to remind the world why they were so fun in the first place.
Standout Tracks:
It's Cool
Crazy Pills
Learn To Love The Lie
Mouth Full of Dirt
Seventeen
Usefully Useless
