Album Review: A Day To Remember – Big Ole Album Vol.1

It has been well over a decade since A Day To Remember burst onto the scene with The downfall of us all. Their brash, anthemic post hardcore meets pop punk clearly spoke to a generation of young people and promptly gained them a huge following. A swift rise and powerful singles, such as All I Want, I’m made of wax, Larry, what are you made of? and their cover of Kelly Clarkson’s Since you’ve been gone have seen the band receive multiple nominations and awards.  Over fifteen Years, 8 studio albums later and the Florida four piece have caught many off guard with the surprise release of Big Ole Album Vol 1 on the 18th of February.

Much like the release of the album, let’s just get right to it because It’s hard to know where to start with this random assortment of songs that make up the Big Ole Album. Opening track Make it Make Sense is aggressive and shows a little promise, you can almost sense some urgency and determination to make a statement. The song’s musical influences take a little old (Linkin Park), a little new (Bad Omens) and combine them to decent effect. As album openers go, it’s pretty good and leaves you hopeful on what is coming next. 

What follows sadly, is a nostalgia journey to Neverland. It becomes obvious very quickly that A Day To Remember are simply the band who never grew up, the ‘backwards cap, basketball jersey and jorts’ forevermore crew. Sure, this type of music is eminently listenable for many and I accept I may be in the minority, but I’m fervently of the belief that what makes music so powerful is that it draws out emotion. Powerful waves of it that overtake us when we hear a song that massively resonates with us, so much so that it overtakes our mind and we feel it down into our chest. Music can inspire rage, or bring us to floods of tears. I promise you all that I’m done preaching now, dear reader. Please accept my apologies for the overwhelming earnestness, I shall return it to the locked up basement cage it normally resides in. In short, what needs to be said is that this is an album that inspires very little feeling. It’s so toneless and flat at times you might as well not bother.

Feedback and Bad Blood are both very much songs we’ve all heard before. They’re one dimensional and rudimentary pop punk. In fact, it’s entirely plausible that you could see any number of bands releasing them. You’ll put this album on in the car and have to constantly correct your friends that this is not in fact, Four Year Strong, Beartooth or a Memphis May Fire.

Frankly, the less said about All My Friends, the better. Do not get me wrong, there is absolutely an audience for this kind of adolescent rubbish, it will probably go down a treat live with a screaming audience of die hard fans. However, come back to reality, take a breath, and remind yourself that in the end this is a near 40 year old man singing about a night out ‘with the boys’, which just ends up coming across as juvenile and crass. And for anyone wondering, Yes! Nickelback does this too, but they have sold more than 50 million records worldwide and have been one of the best selling bands of the 2000’s, so they can do this… They also happen to do it much, much better than ADTR so get a pass.

Lebron, Die For Me and album closer Closer Than You Think all pass you by in an instant. Yet again, we’ve heard it all before and leave you with very little to remember them by. Years and years have gone by and chances to develop or evolve have been squandered by this band, which is incredibly frustrating, enough to make you want to tear your hair out or smack your head into a wall! All very dramatic, I know.

However, there is a very real reason for all of this anger. There are actual small moments of quality that so almost seep through the puerile. To the Death has a little bit of menace about it. Flowers has just a bit of heart and feeling to it. And when you reach Miracle the clouds begin to feel like they are parting just a touch. The song has a strong, powerful chorus and brutal breakdown that forces your head to bounce along. The same can be said for Same Team, and whilst this should be celebrated, there is one very obvious thing that needs saying. This isn’t A Day To Remember writing ADTR songs, it’s them trying to write a Bring Me The Horizon, Wage War or Architects song. And it’s a really, really good go, but BMTH, WW and Architects all do it better. 

And despite how this sounds, it isn’t meant as a dig at A Day To Remember, far from it. And in fact, I implore listeners to make a little time and go listen to Silence. A creepy NIN-esque opening feeds into a glorious, exhilarating and pounding riff that just screams Gojira. You cannot help but get swept up in the swagger and aggression of it all. It is fabulous and brave while still holding onto what ADTR fans will know and love.  It is the best thing and the shining light on this Big Ole Album and it is not even close. 

It’s the only thing that kept this review going. The only redeeming feature. A testament to a band that finally took a big swing and hit their mark. You just wish they’d done it earlier or more often. Sure, there might be some backlash from fans or critics, but as Architects with For Those That Wish To Exist (2021), Bring Me The Horizon with Sempiternal (2015) have shown recently, or Metallica have shown over the decades that they are not afraid of progress or change, no matter the result. 
There is a famous quote from George Bernard Shaw which reads, “For progress is impossible without change and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything“. Let us hope that A Day To Remember this when it comes time to record the ‘Big Ole Album Vol 2’. I won’t be holding my breath though.

Big Ole Album Vol.1 is out now via Fueled by Ramen. For more information on ADTR head here