A Day to Remember have quite the multiple personality. One second they're blasting the most melodic pop-punk this side of TRL, and the next, they're channeling the depths of hell with acerbic growling and heavy breakdowns. And this is all in the same song.
For Those Who Have Heart has a suitable opener in "Fast Forward to 2012," a concise display of the band's volatile persona; it launches forth in melodic hardcore mode before quickly dropping into death snarling and sludgy riffing, using strong gang vocals as the short bridge between the two. This combo continues in varying levels throughout, though the metal does fade out slightly more as things progress. Through it all,
A Day to Remember's love of hardcore shines through, using both old-school lettering to adorn the album's front and spouting defiant lines of solidarity and friendship (when they're not bitching about an ex, that is). It's a rather haphazard, somewhat jarring mix overall -- and that's not even considering the pensive piano interlude that is "The Price We Pay." The pop is catchy enough to rope in the kids blasting
Senses Fail and
Hawthorne Heights, though for them, the growling will take some acclimating. And on the other side of the spectrum, the metalcore kids will love the spitting and snarling, but may not necessarily want their breakdowns coated in sugar. But somewhere in the middle an
As I Lay Dying fan is dating a
Fall Out Boy devotee, and they're in desperate need of a compromise album.
For Those Who Have Heart could very well fill that void. [
For Those Who Have Heart was released on LP in 2013.] ~ Corey Apar