A Day To Remember

You're Welcome

---

Genre: Pop Rock, Metalcore, Pop Punk, Post-hardcore.
Released: 05/03/2021
Via Fueled by Ramen

Album Review: A Day To Remember – You’re Welcome

A Day To Remember are back with their seventh studio album, ‘You’re Welcome’, the first release under their new label Fueled By Raman. The long-awaited album was originally set to release back on November 15th 2019, but was later postponed to “early 2020” (because “the art for the record [wasn’t] done yet”) and then further delayed due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

The album gets straight into it with ‘Brick Wall’ – one of the singles – which starts quickly building up, before heading into a catchy chorus, which then explodes into a meaty mix of guitars and drums, resetting the build-up. This really feels like a rollercoaster, with moments before the breakdown feeling like they’re holding you back, leading you into the fall of the breakdown. This is one of those songs I can already see the good mosh pits happening in. The song ends with what feels like every instrument being slammed… into a brick wall I guess… with distortion, and then just cuts off to a guitar twang. This song kicks the album off to a good start, filling the speakers with energy.

‘Mindreader’ follows, the track was originally released almost a year ago, which means fans should be familiar with it by this point. The song is a total left turn away from track one. It’s incredibly catchy and is one of the better softer songs off of the album.

My first listen of ‘Bloodsucker’, didn’t sit well with me, the song once again changes the tones of the album, starting with an acoustic guitar, with frontman Jeremy singing, with some exhales of air after each line (but i don’t think they’re Jeremy’s). As the song picks up, it adds distorted “ohhs” occasionally, and brings in a synthy sound playing the same riff. It reminds me of ‘Despacito’, with its mix of synths and acoustic. The song turns it all around when it gets to the chorus, feeling like a mix of the first two tracks, with the dancy elements of ‘mindreader’ and the heavy distortedness of ‘brick wall’. I honestly love this part, It gives me the same vibes as You Me At Six’s ‘What’s It Like’ chorus, but slightly heavier, sadly it doesn’t last for long, thankfully when it goes back to the original style, it keeps the energy from the chorus, which makes it feel a lot better. I think the problem with the start is it just has no momentum. I feel it would have been better to try and keep that energy from ‘mindreader’ rather than trying to start it itself. I do thing the little end riff of this track is cool, feeling like some classic psychedelic rock.

‘Last Chance To Dance (Bad Friend)’ is the first track that’ll make the “ADTR aren’t heavy enough anymore” fans shut up – not that they were particularly heavy to begin with… The song instantly turns the album on its head making ‘brick wall’ feel like a walk in the park. The song takes tones normally used by the likes of top metallers, starting with growling vocals. They expertly switch between heavier and softer. This is easily set to become a true ADTR classic. The song is probably one of the band’s heaviest to date.

I thought ‘F.Y.M’ was going to stand for ‘Fuck You Motherfucker’ and continue on the heavy path of the previous track, but instead ‘Fuck You Money’ feels like it’s straight from ‘Common Courtesy’, and I really love it. The features a really good vocal performance, and has some nice guitar work. The only thing I don’t really like about it is the till opening sound that’s played every few bars. ‘High Diving’ is actually the first track on the album to feel like it actually follows on from its predecessor. The song is really catchy, and a little generic but after a few listens does get you singing along.

‘Resentment’ was originally released back in November 2019, so fans have had their time to enjoy it. The song feels like a storm coming after ‘High Diving’, It’s electrifying in sound, buzzing out of the speakers. I think this is a great track. The song is preceded by ‘Looks Like Hell’, which calms the album down, but keeps the same vibe as it’s predecessor. I really love the almost old western feeling guitar, that pokes through from time to time

While ‘Viva La Mexico’ isn’t a bad track by any stretch of the imagination, it does nothing in particular to wow me instead. ‘Only Money’ follows, picking up after the last track fades away. The song slows the album down, for Jeremy to talk about hearing the news of his grandmother’s passing. A simple song that allows Jeremy’s voice to shine through.

‘Degenerates’ was the first track to be released from the album, and looking in the comments on ADTR posts, I believe it put people off the album before it even released. I honestly don’t see why, it’s full of energy, and has some great riffs in it. I was even lucky enough to see them play this one back at Reading 2019, which made it sound even better, and it’s just a really good single.

I’d love to see ‘Permanent’ live, it gives me feelings of the latter half of 2016’s ‘Bad Vibrations’, and feels like one that’d be good in a crowd. Another one, that I can see becoming an ADTR classic. The penultimate track ‘Re-Entry’ is the shortest track on the album, at just over 2 mins 50 seconds, however, it doesn’t waste that time, instead giving a nice transition between the previous track and the one that’s to follow.

‘Everything We Need’ ends the album, and my god what an end it is. This is such a good anthem of a track, and ties the album up nicely. It leaves me wanting more, but feeling content with what we got. Another track that feels like it’ll end up becoming one of the band’s classics. Despite being on an acoustic guitar it feels really grand, and gives off vibes of ‘If It Means A Lot To You’. A true show of ADTR’s brilliance.

Overall I think there’s some really good new material from this album, but a bad track layout, along with a few dud songs just spoil the rest. I feel the album could have flowed better, starting with some of the lighter songs before moving into the heavier stuff, instead we got an album that feels more like a collection of tracks than one flowing album. I do have to wonder to my self if the album would have felt better two years ago, if it had hit its original release date. The world’s a very different place right now.