Send "A Day to Remember " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Absolutepunk |
 Sometimes people I meet online are surprised to find out I grew up more on sports than I did on music. While music is now my main focus, until I was about 16 my life was fairly devoted to basketball, and for periods of time to other sports, like the 5-year-old soccer recreational league and the eighth grade volleyball team. As a result of this upbringing I learned a lot about coaches and how the best ones interact with their players. Coaches don't really bother with the kid who they don't think has any potential; rather, they devote more time, energy and resources into the kids with a lot of potential. A struggling player is more likely to get a mouthful from his coach if the coach knows he can do better, while a similarly struggling player will be pat on the back by a coach who thinks that said player is doing the best he can.It's this mindset that has me disappointed with A Day to Remember's latest offering, What Separates Me from You. Frontman Jeremy McKinnon and his band claimed that this album would surpass their last and most popular record, 2009's Homesick. Homesick brought the band to new levels of recognition among some groups while inciting new levels of hate among others. McKinnon said that since the album was written and recorded largely on the road while touring, he thought that A Day to Remember would be able to provide a much better effort with their next album. Perhaps the problem with What Separates Me from You is the fact that the band had too much time in the studio. McKinnon's screams seem overproduced at times. "This Is the House That Doubt Built" has a synth fill during the last chorus. Is that a piano in the background of the chorus of "Better Off This Way"? Why do these things exist on an A Day to Remember record? Before you reach into your pocket and pull out the "This band is maturing and evolving" card, let's review some other quick points. The band still makes use of heavy chugging breakdowns and still has one mosh call present on this record, the exclamation of the word "Fight" at the beginning of "2nd Sucks"....full text |
| Rocksound |
| Any press-weary band will tell you they hate journalists pigeonholing them into a certain type of music, but most then proceed to sound like a thousand other bands in their scene. Florida’s A Day To Remember wouldn’t shoot themselves in the foot like that, with their fusion of metal, punk, hardcore and pop even harder to pin down on their fourth record. Ironically, opener ‘Sticks & Bricks’ probably has the largest disparity between their influences, presenting the album’s only real weakness – one song occasionally seeming like two unrelated ideas patched together. But even when this happens, they’re still two great songs, thanks mostly to their unshakeable knack for a melody. Musically, they’re at their best when they’re tuneful – as well as offering a contrast to the album’s angry, jaded lyrics (particularly on ‘All I Want’ and ‘It’s Complicated’), it lends an originality to heavier songs like ‘You Be Tails, I’ll Be Sonic’. While cynics will call a poppier foundation too commercially driven, their (musically) upbeat moments make it clear how creative they’ve been with arrangements and production, making no two verses, choruses or breakdowns sound alike. Make sure you give this a listen – we challenge you to define them....full text |
| Sputnikmusic |
| I’ve always quite liked ADTR. A perfectly ordinary band who’ll never extend themselves outside of their musical boundaries. Each album cruises through the same old procedure that makes the listening experience hard to love or hate. No surprises, nothing new. It’s just well, tolerable. The album opens with one of the heavier songs on the release and showcases the first noticeable change; the screaming and breakdowns have been severely narrowed down. The outcome? Refreshing. For so long now have each and every one of their songs been plagued with the ‘Scream, Sing, Scream, Sing’ regime and it got old about halfway through For Those Who Have a Heart. This hasn’t completely gone but I think at some point, as a band, they realised that writing choruses with hooks was their strongest and most defining feature; this decision was definitely for the better. It’s revitalising to hear Jeremy McKinnon’s decent singing voice for the entirety of a track rather than it being interspersed with his uncomfortable screams. However, this is the only change that’s worth referencing. The 9 songs left on the album are crafted (without revelation) in a rinse and repeat format. There’s no attempt to try anything new which makes each song sound like the last. In all we’re left with a catchy but ultimately divided collection of songs that all have their own individual qualities but never complement each other. This is where the main issue lies. I listened to the album and looked back on the experience. Sure, it was enjoyable at times but there were no provocative moments that made me feel something. The album doesn’t work as a whole and simply staggers along at the same momentum; drop a catchy chorus here, splash a heavy interlude there and that’s it really; another day at the A Day to Remember office....full text |
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