Review Summary: Where do we go from here?
23 years and still kicking, eight (mostly) uniformly excellent albums and a refusal to compromise even as the band members rapidly approach their 40's – it's quite the track record for the Worcester gents in Four Year Strong. 2020's
Brain Pain was a fantastic light in an otherwise grueling year; fond memories of me writing my university's master from the comfort of my home, broken up by long walks around my neighborhood to the tune of that album immediately come to mind as I revisited it in preparation for
Analysis Paralysis. It's no secret that this record feels more like an extension of
Brain Pain (rhyming titles and all) rather than a brand-spanking new chapter; savor a few interesting nuances sprinkled in to mostly great effect. Never mind the questionably AI generated album cover and the lowercase "stylized" song titles that do little to cement the band as being hip and cool with the gen alpha kids;
Analysis Paralysis genuinely sees Four Year Strong sounding the most fun and carefree than they ever have in a long time, barring a few blunders.
Will Putney is back behind the production knobs and have adequately cleaned up some of the minor inconsistencies found on
Brain Pain. The guitars now emanate more warmth and clarity without drowning out the dual vocal attack of shredding frontmen Alan Day and Dan O' Connor, who refuse to relent as they belt out soaring melodies and some of the angriest, throatiest screams found in their back catalogue. Their sound has consistently leaned more and more into the full-on hardcore stylings that the Buckley brothers called their own for years with every subsequent release, and here, the influences are fully worn on the sleeves of Alan and co. From the dance-worthy percussion of opener "aftermath / afterthought" and its rattling breakdown, to the flamethrower intensity of "daddy of mine", Four Year Strong have shunned
some of their softer palette for a grittier, rapid-fire approach, with less than half of the songs on offer here even cracking the three-minute mark. Still, their knack for melding cutthroat aggression with easy-to-quote hooks remains on full-display while finding just enough wiggle room to shake things up.
The choppy staccato riffage, irresistible bounce and closing guitar solo of "paranoia" is an indisputable highlight. As is the fun-as-hell "rollercoaster" which packs an absolute wallop of a breakdown – hell even the indie-rock flavored "maybe it's me" boasts one of Four Year Strong's strongest choruses to date. Lead single "dead end friend" is a slight fumble though, feeling like a half-baked retread of material from
Brain Pain and the puzzling "STFIL" (it stands for "sucks to fall in love") sounds like a mid-tempo rock ballad alá...
Homesick era A Day to Remember? It's tough to fault the intrepidation here but the track just feels awkwardly slotted in to pad out the track listing while failing to fail in line with what the rest of the album offers.
Analysis Paralysis occasionally lacks focus and feels somewhat incohesive; more like a collection of ideas thrown at the listener with little in the way of a thematic strain to tie it all together. Still, when the band doubles down on their signature brand of Third Eye Blind inspired hooks combined with muscular, titanium fueled chugs, there just simply isn’t anything in the way of pop-punk/hardcore adjacent music as fun sounding as Four Year Strong. With practically all of their peers having either petered out entirely (i.e. Set Your Goals and Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!) or being fully content with putting out the worst music of their career (you know which band), Four Year Strong can sit comfortably atop their throne, and they can do so without having to resort to playing the old classics.
