A Day To Remember - 'Big Ole Album Vol. 1' - Album Review

BACKGROUND. In the age of flashy marketing campaigns, excessive teasing and calculated clickbaits, we have to appreciate a well-timed surprise album drop. No promos, rumours or gossip, just a solid double single release to grab the attention, get the music world hyped and set the scene for an exclusive physical premiere with an appropriately delayed digital release. This is the good old A Day To Remember for you, always a step ahead of the curve, dominating media headlines and successfully stirring the pot even in their current post-peak, less active era, as if Homesick dropped yesterday. Now the latest record Big Ole Album Vol.1 is simply another one by the ADTR brand that is impossible to ignore and criminal to neglect.

BAND. Speaking of Homesick, it is hard to imagine that the generation-defining classic dropped more than 15 years ago. It is also hard to talk about the scene as a whole without mentioning A Day To Remember from their glory days. The modern easycore, melodic hardcore, metalcore, and even pop punk branches owe these guys so much that we somehow take them for granted, but really it is very difficult to name better songwriters and marketing strategist than Jeremy McKinnon and the gang. Sure, the last ten years might not have been their most fruitful, but with a reputation and legacy like that, their latest album demands the attention and totally meets the high standards set in the past.

ALBUM. People like to diss You Are Welcome (2021) but for all its risky ups and downs, it was still a very distinctive A Day To Remember album with timeless bangers like 'Last Chance To Dance', 'Resentment' and 'Brick Wall'. Fear not, regardless of whether you liked that one or even Bad Vibration (2016), the new Big Ole Album is simultaneously more aligned with their early days and more relevant to contemporary trends than both of them. It is nostalgic and retrospective, but also modern and energetic. The record covers everything that made A Day To Remember global heavyhitters, and then some, and should please grown-up scene kids as much as recent fans.

SONGS. Polished to absolute perfection, Big Ole Album has it all - huge choruses, massive riffs, crushing breakdowns, infectious hooks, memorable lyrics, choral chants, galopping drums, a melting pot of nostalgia and modernity executed with the utmost professionalism. As retrospective as current, the record opens up with the stomping banger 'Make It Make Sense', the rock'n'roll anthem 'Feedback', the easycore rager 'Bad Blood' and pop punk superhit 'All My Friends' covering the entire spectrum from the very start. From there, it gets punching and heavy in 'To The Death' and 'Silence', catchy and groovy in 'Miracle' and 'Same Team', and fittingly radio-friendly in 'Die For Me' and 'Closer Than You Think', faultlessly maintaining the right balance.

FUTURE. At this point, it is hard to tell whether this is the beginning of A Day To Remember's final chapter, but the album's opening few second and overall feel of nostlagia certainly hint at impending retirement from the studio. On the other hand, there is that significant Vol.1 in the title that would suggest at least a second part, and I have a feeling we will get that much sooner than expected. Either way, whatever happens ahead, it is certain to be another scene highlight and an idustry event befitting the ADTR brand and legacy.

A Day To Remember - 'Big Ole Album Vol.1'

Country: USA (Florida)

Used: 21 March

Label: Fuelled By Ramen

Tracklisting:

1. Make It Make Sense

2. Feedback

3. Bad Blood

4. All My Friends

5. To The Death

6. Flowers

7. LeBron

8. Die For Me

9. Miracle

10. Same Team

11. Silence

12. Closer Than You Think