Album Review: A Day to Remember- What Separates Me From You

If there is any band out there who are more loved and hated at the same time than A Day to Remember, will they please stand up? Anyone, anyone at all? No? I didn't think so. Ever since their debut For Those Who Have Heart, the band have been blazing a trail through the pop-punk/hardcore scenes, leaving legions of fans and heaps of haters in the wake of their constant touring schedule. The band's second full-length, Homesick, did even more to divide the fans from the haters, but some believed it was too big a departure from Heart, and many feared the band have begun to sell out. With so many different opinions of the band swirling around the internet, they retreated to the studio with longtime partner Andrew Wade and Homesick producer (and New Found Glory guitarist/ Mr. Hayley Williams) Chad Gilbert. The resulting album, What Separates Me From You, is the band's attempt to please everyone, and to an extent, that's what they've done. The fans of Homesick get their catchy choruses, fans of Heart will have some of the band's hardest-hitting songs, and haters will likely continue to bash the band's inability to stand out. But what of the casual fan, who's heard of the band only in passing, and decides to check A Day to Remember out?

They picked a good place to start; What Separates Me From You is A Day to Remember's most consistent work yet.

Maturity in the pop-punk and hardcore scenes of today is hard to come by, as the next MySpace band is likely to start recording a cover of Katy Perry's latest single at any minute. ADTR have fallen into this hole before, as they've produced breakdown-laden covers of Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone" and The Fray's "Over My Head (Cable Car)." However, What Separates features a more focused approach to the band's songwriting, as the songs play more as full songs instead of a few lyrics thrown in to compliment a breakdown, or vice-versa. Jeremy McKinnon's vocals have grown with each of the band's releases, and it follows suit here, as he begins to really show his pipes off on tracks like "Better Off this Way" or lead single "All I Want." With McKinnon's clean vocals on the rise, many fans may find that the band's harder songs, like most of the ones found on For Those Who Have Heart, are being cast aside, but that's simply not the case. It's true that the screaming is substantially subdued from Heart, but "2nd Sucks" and "Sticks and Bricks" feature some of the harshest breakdowns in ADTR's catalog, while "You Be Tails, I'll Be Sonic" blends both of McKinnon's vocal styles quite well.

In terms of the music itself, ADTR will never claim to be the most original band out there, but What Separates Me From You does show glimpses of growth, and that's due in large part to the addition of Kevin Skaff to replace the beloved Tom Denney, who chose the life behind the scenes in the producer's role (he also had a hand in the creation of the album). While Denney added a certain charisma and charm to the band, Skaff adds a more technical and precise guitar sound to the songs, and his work as a back-up vocalist in his previous band Four Letter Lie also affords the band the opportunity to utilize his vocals to compliment McKinnon's (like a poor man's Four Year Strong, if you will). Skaff and fellow guitarist Neil Westfall prove to be a respectable tandem, trading the band's notoriously same-sounding, chugging riffs for a more technical approach, and prove to be a true sign of growth in the band.

While I obviously have quite a few praises for this album, there are certainly points that can be made against it. The common problem people find with A Day to Remember is that their songs come off as same-sounding, and while there is growth on What Separates Me From You, the same argument can be made yet again. Most people see ADTR's songs or albums as simple, fun listens, with little substance to be remembered or heralded for originality. While this rings true, it can also be interpreted as the band knowing what their fans like, and continuing to give it to them while allowing themselves to grow as musicians with each release. A Day to Remember also try too hard to walk the line between pop-punk and hardcore too evenly, and what I mean by that is they could be a great pop-punk band or a pretty good hardcore band, but because they want to try and keep their fans on both sides of that spectrum, they will likely never do anything too inventive within their genre (whatever it may be). Nevertheless, the band have blended the sounds of the harder, more anger-driven themes of For Those Who Have Heart with the pop-punk minded Homesick quite well, and have found their footing and have begun to build the foundation of what looks to a long, lucrative career for themselves. A Day to Remember seem to have a firm grasp on the scene right now, and with What Separates Me From You, the band show signs of growth and inventiveness, if only at brief instances, and begin to make that grasp even tighter and all the more impossible to ignore.

tl;dr: The album is A Day to Remember's best work, for what it's worth. If you enjoyed their previous work (especially Homesick), you'll really enjoy What Separates Me From You.