Bad Vibrations, A Day to Remember’s sixth album, was released last week and was well worth its highly anticipated wait. Showcasing the band’s classic mix between post-hardcore and pop-punk, Bad Vibrations is their best album to date, giving fans throwbacks to previous albums while experimenting with new directions.
A Day to Remember is one of my favourite bands due to their mix of characteristic sound and experimentation. Influenced by post-hardcore, metal, and pop punk sounds, A Day To Remember blends them together in a distinctive and unique style. This is best showcased in “Paranoia,” the lead single from the album. The song starts out fast-paced with a rapid guitar, drums, and Jeremy McKinnon’s distinctive unclean vocals. The song then quickly progresses into a softer tempo during the chorus, as the beat drops and McKinnon briefly switches to cleaner vocals. The pace then picks back up as the song moves into the breakdown.
“Exposed” and “Reassemble” are the heaviest songs on the album, both opening with a distinctive metal drum beat, guitar riff, and incredibly harsh unclean vocals. McKinnon’s vocal range is impressive, moving from clean to unclean styled vocals all throughout the album. He moves between the different styles with such quickness that I actually had to double check that A Day to Remember only has one vocalist, as many post-hardcore bands have two, one for each style.
Bad Vibrations isn’t entirely metal and post-hardcore though. The third single, “Bullfight,” contains elements of a harder style but predominantly showcases a more traditional heavy rock beat, with the majority of the song being sung with clean vocals. “Naivety” is a straight pop-punk tune with an incredibly catchy beat and chorus. “Turn Off the Radio” is by far one of my favourite songs on the album, starting off with an explosive drum beat overlaid with a beautiful guitar riff and pleading vocals before moving into a desperate chorus and bridge that sucks you right in. “We Got This” is a throwback to their earlier work—a pop-punk song with more of an emo flavour, reminiscing of being a lonely teenager who found solace in music. “Forgive and Forget” is the only slow song on the album, with soft guitar, violin, and pleading vocals that build over the course of the song.
Bad Vibrations is A Day to Remember at their best, melding together post-hardcore, pop-punk, and rock in beautiful and moving songs that also make you want to move. It’s a perfect album for new and old fans, or anyone looking to get started in the metal genre.
