In a complete and total surprise, A Day To Remember announced and released their brand new record, Big Ole Album, all at once on the same day. What was the catch? Physical copies, like CDs and vinyl editions, are available now – and were immediately available upon announcement/release – but the digital version of the album is not ready to stream or download until March 21 (one week from today). The best part about this release is that it reinvigorated the feeling of driving to the record store on release day with eager anticipation. After streaming, the art of going to pick up a physical copy of an album that your favorite band just dropped is much more rare. Furthermore, the memories made when listening to an album for the first time on vinyl or CD really sink in deeper. It was such a pleasant surprise from ADTR and really reminded me why I love music.
In regard to the songs themselves, this is the best collection of songs the band has produced in years. They haven’t sounded this fresh, enthusiastic, and charismatic since 2013’s Common Courtesy. Every track showcases this to be the best iteration of the band. While 2016’s Bad Vibrations had some of A Day To Remember’s heaviest moments of their career, the choruses sometimes felt underwhelming, and the pop punk elements weren’t always as fun. On 2021’s You’re Welcome, they had some stand out tracks, but lacked a lot of personality on the more pop-leaning moments. These albums were not bad by any means, they were just far from perfect A Day To Remember records.
Big Ole Album fixes every misstep the band has made in the last 10+ years. Pop punk songs like “Feedback” and “All My Friends” are simply a blast to listen to. The heavy moments like “To The Death” and “Silence” are brutal and groundbreaking. Every chorus on this album commands your attention; even if you try to put this album on in the background, you will find yourself focusing on it fully. There are songs like “Bad Blood” and “Miracle” that don’t lean in a specific genre direction, but in fact capture all the genres that A Day To Remember could be classified as. Honestly, this album could have been self-titled and I wouldn’t have bat an eye.
When I heard “Bad Blood,” I could immediately see the breakdown line, “Take it personal,” being as iconic as “Mr Highway’s” breakdown line, “disrespect your surroundings.”
The track “Flowers” is a more emotional song about loving your parents and being grateful for where you are in life. “Same Team” is a devastating breakup song about never seeing eye-to-eye. One of the singles, “LeBron,” is simply put, “feeling like hot shit!”
A Day to Remember wrote every song on this album in a way that sounds and feels so unique. When I heard the synth opening for “Die For Me,” I began to brace myself for a soulless pop song. Typically in this scene, when a band writes a pop song, they forgo instruments altogether. Then, in an instant, all my worries were dissolved when Neil Westfall and Kevin Skaff’s guitars came in like a symphony. In between all the techno-pop elements, guitars and drums could be heard clear as day.
The record artwork seems to reflect how quintessential this album is going to be in their catalog, too. It features images from previous tours like The House Party Tour, Raising Hell In the Heartlands Tour, and the Parks and Devastation Tour. It features members of different bands that helped influence the band throughout their career, like Isaac Hale (Knocked Loose), Oli Sykes (Bring Me The Horizon), and Chad Gilbert (New Found Glory).
Vocalist Jeremey McKinnon said in an interview with Kerrang, “We’ve got quite a bit done for Vol. 2, but it’s not quite finished yet. What will be cool is that we can react to what people like about Vol. 1, and write more towards that.” This is a cool concept, however, we don’t want them to adjust at all! If Volume 2 of Big Ole Album is anything like Volume 1, it will be a smashing success. The band has already course-corrected in a flawless way; a sequel to this album should hopefully sound pretty similar.
Overall, Big Ole Album, in all of its surprise, wasn’t a return to form – it was picking up where they left off. The album roll-out was genius. It recaptured the magic of older album releases. The songs themselves are an exemplary model for the success the band can still achieve. The real key component that I can’t quite explain is how this album feels like seeing A Day To Remember live and that physical and emotional feeling of punk chaos while in an ADTR pit. That’s what this album sounds like. It’s got some of the biggest choruses of the band’s whole career and heaviest beatdowns. If this doesn’t make album of the year lists, we’ll be shocked.
PURCHASE / PRE-SAVE A DAY TO REMEMBER’S BIG OLE ALBUM HERE!
