Album Review

A Day To Remember – Bad Vibrations
A Day To Remember – Bad Vibrations

Ocala Florida quintet A Day To Remember have just released their sixth studio album ‘Bad Vibrations’ and it comes three years after the band released their highly respected fifth studio album ‘Common Curtesy’ and in that time between album releases it is clear to see that A Day To Remember have taken a lot of time throwing ideas about and created that perfect diverse album with ‘Bad Vibrations’ which is going to please the hard core fans whilst also welcoming many new fans to the fold with open arms.

With ‘Bad Vibrations’ A Day To Remember took a slightly different approach to writing music and instead of writing songs on the road between lengthy tour cycles they managed to gather together in a room and sit down and write songs in a more natural way with no pressure and no stress and in that time they penned over 40 songs with a final 11 making it on the album.

The album opens in an aggressive manor with the title track ‘Bad Vibrations’ which has Jeremy McKinnon screaming out “Don’t forget that this is a choice, pick your poison, live with remorse, don’t forget that this is a choice, pick your poison, live with remorse” before the drum come crashing in and the guitars are played at full throttle, as the song progresses it proves to be an absolute head banger and you will find yourself shouting out “Toxic” alongside Jeremy McKinnon whilst head banging fast to the epic  guitar riffs and when the infectious chorus kicks in A Day To Remember will have you completely hooked in.

‘Paranoia’ is the lead single to be taken from the album and is a song which the band first premiered way back in March and it is an absolute beast of a song, opening up with riffs that wouldn’t sound to out of place on a System Of A Down album and in true A Day To Remember fashion the chorus is insanely catchy, the kind of chorus which is bound to see a mad flurry of circle pits break out at the bands gigs as the fans spin around sing-a-long and unleash as much energy as possible.

‘Naivety’ is the latest single to be released from the video and the video that accomplishes the song is outstanding yet quite humorous as it features the band as oap’s who have reformed for a final tour which goes well with the song’s lyrics of growing old.  Musically ‘Naivety’ is a pure pop-punk song which is stupidly catchy it is a summer anthem and one that needs to blasted from your speakers at full volume, I can see A Day To Remember gaining a whole collection of new fans on the back of ‘Naivety’.

Both ‘Exposed’ and ‘ Reassemble’ are hard hitting tracks with spot on instrumental work which is technical in places and extremely heavy throughout with the later of the two tracks featuring some huge break downs and massive vocal screams from Jeremy McKinnon who is at the top of his game throughout the whole album.

‘Bullfight’ is one of the stand out tracks of the album as it features a perfect balance of heaviness and infectiousness as the band lay down huge riffs, pounding drums, loud screams and a pure radio friendly chorus that you can’t help but fall in love with and as soon as the song comes to an end you are bound to find yourself hitting the skip back button to hear the song again and again.

As mentioned above ‘Bad Vibrations’ is the most diverse album A Day To Remember have ever made and you just need to listen to a handful of songs to see that as one minute the band are going bat shit crazy during the likes of ‘Exposed’ and then the next they go down a perfect pop-punk route with ‘We Got This’ and then the next Jeremy McKinnon sings his heart out on the relaxed ‘Same About You’ and then the band go fully stripped back for album closer ‘Forgive And Forget’.

A Day To Remember are easily at the top of their game and currently making the transition from playing Academy sized venues to arenas and it is about time as the band have worked extremely hard since they formed  and with ‘Bad Vibrations’ they have created an truly outstanding album that is going to appeal to so many people including many pop-punk fans who wrote the band off years ago for being too heavy but will now find complete enjoyment in the likes of ‘Naivety’ and ‘We Got This’, I can’t recommend ‘Bad Vibrations’ enough and if you only buy one album throughout the whole of 2016 then seriously consider ‘Bad Vibrations’ being that album as you won’t be disappointed.

5/5

Review by Trigger

 Band Members

Jeremy McKinnon
Neil Westfall
Joshua Woodward
Kevin Skaff
Alex Shelnutt
 Track Listing
1. Bad Vibrations
2. Paranoia
3. Naivety
4. Exposed
5. Bullfight
6. Reassemble
7. Justified
8. We Got This
9. Same About You
10. Turn Off The Radio
11. Forgive And Forget
 Band Related Links
A Day To Remember Facebook
 Review Score Code
- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
- What Was That?