You know how it goes waveriders. You find yourself on a website all set to purchase the CD/Vinyl/Cassette you set out to acquire and at checkout…boom! There is a buy one get one offer going on and you need to find something else to satisfy that “free” item. You can’t let this opportunity go to waste so you start sampling the wares. That was how I made the acquaintance of Four Year Strong and their album Brain Pain.
God bless that buy one get one offer because I am extremely confident that I would never have crossed paths with this album, or this band for that matter. Why would I say that? Well, despite the fact that I came of age when pop punk music was at the top of the charts (Green Day’s Dookie was the first cassette I ever purchased as a matter of fact), this genre of music is just not something I revisit or explore all that often. And going back to my story, I sampled quite a few other bands listed on that site that day and nothing really interested me or stood out. But then came Four Year Strong’s turn at the plate.
The first track on Brain Pain, “It’s Cool”, begins with a repeated guitar line complemented by ethereal harmonized vocals. The song crescendos gradually, picking up steam and urgency through verses and choruses until it reaches the 2:56 mark and the two guitarists drop into this enormous metallic riff that undeniably got my head snapping back and forth. I didn’t need to hear anything else. Brain Pain was added to my cart and my purchase was completed.
Fast forward to present day. This album is one of my favorite listening experiences of the past few years. Yes, I would classify Four Year Strong overall as a pop punk band. They have two singers who primarily utilize clean vocals. The melodies are strong and memorable. But goodness gracious do they have immense riffs all throughout this album which add much more grit and muscle to the pop punk formula than I’m used to hearing. I’ve found them listed under melodic hardcore as well, which…I mean…there are breakdowns but when I think hardcore, melodic or otherwise, I think of harsh screaming vocals and they’re largely absent on this album. I’d address the easycore label if I had ever heard that term before. Alas, I’m not that hip.
Favorite songs? Excellent question! I don’t skip any songs when I listen to Brain Pain but I do especially enjoy “It’s Cool”, “Crazy Pills”, “Mouth Full Of Dirt”, and “The Worst Part About Me”. That said, I don’t think there is a weak song on offer. Oh, and if you obtain the deluxe edition like I have you’ll get a couple of killer extra tracks “MYVEK” and “Pipe Dream” along with some acoustic versions of album tracks, a couple of remixes, and a cover of “Bitter Sweet Symphony”.
Waveriders I’ve picked up multiple releases which came out before and after Brain Pain, but I can concretely say that this particular album is my personal sweet spot with Four Year Strong. I love this album and I believe you just might love it too!
-Penfold
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