Review Summary: A return to form can be something even greater when it’s one of your best possible forms.
Four Year Strong is a name likely to inspire different reactions from many people. You may sigh in disappointment, smile, or just not bat an eye. For me, I’m a pretty big fan. The 2010 record ‘Enemy of the World’ is an all time favorite for me for its huge hits like ‘Wasting Time (Eternal Summer)’ and ‘Find My Way Back’. However, its follow up, 2011’s ‘In Some Way, Shape, or Form’, was generally seen as a disappointment. I liked the record, but most people didn’t much at all. That said, the band took a hiatus following it.
Not a very long one though, as 3 years after, they came out with an EP called ‘Go Down in History’, which restored a lot of people’s faith in this band with its fast punky energy and general sense of fun, even if it wasn’t their heaviest project. With this EP having re-sparked a lot of interest in this band, fans were excited to see what was coming next. And lo and behold, here’s Four Year Strong’s self titled album.
The vibe of this record can easily be picked up by its cover alone. It’s fun, and colorful, and maybe a little bit obscene, but in a good way, if that makes any sense. And you’ll hear what I mean as soon as you start up the album with fun filled opener ‘I Hold Myself in Contempt’. This song is a high energy and punky little opener that doesn’t slow down and hooks you immediately. It transitions into the lead single (I say single, but I don’t think any were officially released for this album?) ‘We All Float Down Here’. The title’s an obvious reference to Stephen King’s ‘It’, and the song itself is carried by heavy riffs and a KILLER breakdown in which Dan O’Connor (I think? I confuse him and Alan’s voices sometimes.) shouts “Tick Tock Tick Tock, it’s ticking away!”. This song and the one that preceded it will certainly grasp the attention of any fan, and just pop punk listener in general.
We move on to some more mid-tempo esque songs in the form of ‘Eating My Words’ and ‘Wipe Yourself, off, man. You dead.’. The latter of which again makes a pop culture reference, this time to the movie ‘Rush Hour’, which I personally can’t say I’ve seen. Both songs here do a good job of changing the pace, but I can’t help but feel like they blend together quite a bit, even if both are enjoyable songs. My favorite song on the whole album comes storming in to follow with, though, as ‘Stolen Credit Card!’ is a fun rush of a song that injects that little bit of emotion and urgency comparable to my favorite tracks I mentioned from EOTW.
Now would also be a good time to talk about what’s changed in this album from the previous ones. The bits of keyboard and synths that appeared on tracks from their first 2 albums, such as ‘Prepare to be digitally manipulated’ and ‘What the hell is a Gigawatt?’ have been gone since 2011, and they don’t return here. A lot of fans seemingly miss that a lot. Personally though, I was never a fan of that aspect of their music, so I don’t mind, though I understand why it’s missed, as it did add some variety to certain tracks. Without this, these songs sound a lot more organic from a production point of view. I usually wouldn’t be a huge fan of that, but it works relatively well on some of these songs, especially some of the later ones.
Unfortunately I do have to nitpick some of these tracks. ‘Gravity’ and ‘Who Cares?’ are by far my least favorite tracks here, though they aren’t bad, they’re both very generic pop punk songs to me and don’t stick out much. I’d also kind of have to say something similar about ‘Here’s to swimming with bow-legged women’, even if it is still fun. None of these songs are anywhere near bad but they’re definitely the weakest here, in my opinion, anyway.
Thankfully the last 3 songs on this album are absolutely oozing with fun and creativity. Tied with ‘Stolen Credit Card!’, ‘I’m a Big Bright Shining Star’ is definitely one of my favorites here. It starts with a fun, heavy, and bouncy riff that really sticks in one’s head. The vocals in this song really soar too, especially when “This time I’ll stand through the winter, last through the night” is sung in the pre chorus. It’s an awesome song all around, and is followed by another creative pop punk number in the form of ‘The Sound of Your Heart’. This song is absolutely made by its incredible riff which is on the same level of the one in the previous track. I can kind of take or leave the rest of it, but that alone makes the song worth every second.
Finally, the last song is sadly a reuse of one of the tracks from the previous EP, and its the title track, no less. It’s a little disappointing to see that ‘Go Down in History’ has just been repurposed with little to no difference to the EP version, but pushing that nitpick aside, it remains a fantastic song. The chorus is among the best and catchiest that 4YS have crafted.
“It's never too late to keep your head straight
Move your hands back and forth in perfect symmetry
So you can live like a time bomb that doesn't have long
Go down in history”
The track is a great way to end the record on an inspiring note, even if it has been reused. It may not ‘Enemy of the World’ (the song), but it's pretty great.
And that brings us to the end of this self titled record. This is a really brilliant album, for the most part. There are some slight areas that aren’t as good to me, but the entire album as a whole is oozing with attractive fun that any fan will be all over. It may not be reinventing the wheel or anything like that, but it didn’t set out to, nor have 4YS ever wanted to do that. The album, or at least its standouts, are absolutely worth your time if you’re willing to give it that.
Tracks to check out: Stolen Credit Card!, I’m a Big Bright Shining Star, I Hold Myself in Contempt, Go Down in HIstory, The Sound of your Heart
