pop-punk

Common Courtesy Review (2 of 2)

~ seetalrihal ~ Leave a comment

Review part two… To read part one, click here!

Life @ 11 reminds me so much of Homesick – I think this song would also fit well on there. I’m not sure what it is, maybe it’s the whole harmonizing screams with singing that was oh-so prominent on that album? Whatever it is, I like it… This is another fabulous example of how brilliant the band is at writing lyrics to encompass the struggles people can go through. I won’t post them here, I’ll let you listen to them for yourself.

I Surrender kind of reminds me of old-school metal power ballads. That’s all I have to say on the matter.

Life Lessons Learned The Hard Way is just a short, angry song. Every band needs one. Heck, every album needs one, in my opinion! The almost beastly drumming is the driving force behind this song – YAY! (I love a good drum track. The harder, the better…)

End of Me feels like another filler track for me. I’m not entirely sure why I keep thinking this, but it just seems like the further you get into the album, the less interesting the songs are. Or maybe I’m just being incredibly picky again? It’s just almost as if the album wasn’t intended to be played straight through past Best of Me.

The Document Speaks For Itself picks the album back up again! Truthfully, I was expecting a harder breakdown, but I still really like this song. I like the vocals, the bass, the guitar riffs, and the drums (obviously). The whole song is just standard ADTR, which is evident with the drum fills that appear on all the albums, but which somehow don’t get old. Every time the music cuts out, but the vocals continue, I get a little bit more excited. I’m excited to hear this live, and to scream the lyrics out, with conviction and power, and just general bad ass-ery!
Closing song I Remember acts as beautiful almost-continuation of Ocala, as both songs focus on the life in the band’s perspective; where Ocala tells us where they are from, and I Remember telling us where they are now. The conversation between the guys at the end, just reminiscing about old tour stories is adorable, and such a perfect way to end the album.

All in all, I like this album – I really fucking like this album! There are some definite bangers present, and some fillers. The fillers are good for just general background noise when your working/procrastinating, while the brilliance of the main songs are perfect for a gig!

Yes, so I’m still unsure why I split it. It seemed like such a fabulous idea last night…

Common Courtesy Review (1 of 2)

~ seetalrihal ~ 1 Comment

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“FUCK YEA!”
This may well be one of the best first lines for an album, ever.

City of Ocala is the opening track on the highly anticipated album Common Courtesy, by post-hardcore band A Day To Remember, and let me tell you now, this song alone made the long (and at times stressful) wait for the album worth it. The guitar riff that opens the album is just typically ADTR, but somehow sounds incredibly fresh and new.

The seamless blend into track two Right Back At It Again is just plain perfect – I love it when songs do that! I was actually lucky enough to hear this live back in June (I was just pretty wasted by this point, and completely forgot about the new song a few days after the gig… till I heard it on the album, and then ALL the memories came flooding back!) It’s the underlying bass that makes your head/hands/feet just naturally do ‘The Thing’* when you listen to it!

Sometimes You’re The Hammer, Sometimes You’re The Nail echoes the quiet-at-the-end song structure of You Should’ve Killed Me When from debut album And Their Name Was Treason – a natural occurrence for the band, and an occurrence that’s welcomed with open arms. It’s these moments in the song that the heartfelt, compassionate lyrics come out.

Dead & Buried highlights the hardcore side of the band, with the screaming/growling vocals that we all know and love in the verse. I can almost hear the crowd singing along to the chorus chant of ‘dead and buried’ (who’da thunk that they’d be the lyrics?!) I have a feeling that this will be one of the heaver crowd songs, where all pits will essentially form one giant “super-pit”.

ADTR are good at writing songs that people can relate to. Especially for teenagers, when insecurity is at an all time high (a topic close to my heart, and I’ll probably write a post on it, we’ll see how things go, shall we?). Best of Me is one of those songs. Certain lyrics jump out, and hit close to home; for me this is definitely one of the more ‘feely’ songs on the album.

Acoustic ballad I’m Already Gone is not a current personal highlight, but I’m willing to listen to it. I don’t know, maybe it’ll grow on me.

The acoustic is quickly forgotten, however, with the screams in Violence. Again, not the best they’ve done, and it seems to be more of a filler track for the album, however it fits. Knowing me, this’ll turn into a favourite of mine by next week; I’m just that obscure.

*The Thing – any action/feeling that comes to you, but you have no words to explain said action/feeling perfectly enough. It is an action/feeling where words do not do it justice, therefore ‘thing’ is the only appropriate word.

To read part two of the review, click here!