A Day To Remember - Homesick

One of the greatest and most never-ending debates of the music scene is the one of the evolution of the artists' style. It often constitutes a real dilemma for bands: following their inspirations and changing their art at the risk of disappointing a part of their fanbase or keeping the same formula and being accused of not renewing their sound?
A Day To Remember seem to have chosen the second suggestion. With their two first albums, the band from Ocala, Florida, has set its style as a perilous combination of pop-punk melodies and metal sequences. Original in the form, but not specially innovative in the substance. Admittedly, the second album was poppier than its predecessor and this one is in the same continuation, but construction of songs in general remains the same since the first opus.
We can yet affirm without too much doubt that this 'Homesick' will mark a turning point in the band's carrier. The number of fans disappointed by a record less heavy will be nothing when compared to the one that A Day To Remember is likely to win. Because if the formula stays unchanged, it works much better from now on. And the production taken over by Chad Gilbert (New Found Glory) has a lot to do with it. This album has more rhythm than the previous ones and is above all much catchier. It was quite annoying for the band to have as most famous song their cover of 'Since U been gone' by Kelly Clarkson.

The track that opens the album sets the tone with an intro constituted by "Tadadadada" as gang vocals, a barked "Let's go" and one of the heaviest riffs resuming the same melody. The rest is exactly in the same vein. Choruses that have no reason to be jealous of the catchiest songs of pop-punk acts as New Found Glory, mosh parts and roars a la The Devil Wears Prada (which frontman besides contributes to a track), breakdowns and gang vocals a la Four Year Strong, you repeat the whole and you get a good sum up of 'Homesick'.
Some songs are however good surprises and several sequences of the album will be stuck in your head after a few plays. 'I'm made of wax, Larry, what are you made of?' and its female backing vocals, 'Have faith in me' and its lighter rhythm, the screamed and not roared end of 'You already know what you are', faster than the usual clumsy and never-ending mosh parts, are proofs that the band can be incredibly effective when they make an adjustment, as slight as it is, to the usual construction of their songs.
The real problem of A Day To Remember is indeed the constant repetition of the same vocal and instrumental habits. The constructions of songs look a lot alike, many of them end exactly in the same sound of cymbal and guitar feedback, we are rarely surprised, the mosh parts are all as much predictable and sometimes totally useless, the gang vocals endlessly repeat the same lines heard hundreds of times before ("This is the life we chose / This is the life I lead / They can never take this from me") or are often nothing more than the echo of the clear voice, repeating ludicrously the last words pronounced by the singer Jeremy McKinnon.
He is the main interest due to the similarity between the instrumental parts. If the clear voice parts are way less cheesy than a band like Silverstein, the use of his guttural voice is sometimes very cliché, when he roars "This is a battleground" or "Disrespect your surroundings". We already picture the kids in tank tops, shouting those words with their amrs wide open, ready to run into the pit for the next breakdown. Other inevitable part, the acoustic ballad at the very end of the album. We think that everything is lost when we notice that all the elements are here: the nasal singing, the "Lalala" and the female voice as guest (Sierra Kusterbeck of VersaEmerge). But the arrival of the drums and the gang vocals save the song.

If the album will most probably succeed more than its predecessors, it's with no doubt thanks to the vocal work and to the effort made on the sung parts which make it infinitely catchier. Chad Gilbert can't for all that save a band that persists in recording the same songs over and over. Another big weak point is the level of the lyrics that stay too cheesy most of the time ("I said I'd never let you go and I never did / I said I'd never let you fall and I always meant it"). This album is totally in line with everything that does well within the scene lately and A Day To Remember and Victory Records are far from betting on creativity with 'Homesick'. It's even so a good surprise, given that I was not waiting from anything at all from that band, but if this album can be a pleasure, it remains guilty.

3.5/5

Recommanded if you like:

Four Year Strong, A Skylit Drive, The Devil Wears Prada
Check also:
Run Into The Shadows, Burden Of A Day, Four Letter Lie

www.myspace.com/adaytoremember
(Victory Records, 2009)