On a brighter note: I'll see letlive. tomorrow and I'll have an interview with Night Verses so you can expect a long concert review, blurry pics and my weird accent. If you'll see me there, don't hesitate to say hi! In the meantime you can read about some "hairy hillbillies from Massachusetts".
by Andy
My first thought about the last recent
album by Four Year Strong was that it has a pretty cool album cover
showing a bunch of things, all in “some way, shape or form”. I
was highly excited for the album, since 2009's “Enemy Of The World”
was such a huge deal in the melodic hardcore scene. The album “In
Some Way Shape Or Form” was released in November 2011 and is the
most recent album of the hairy hillbillies from Massachusetts. God, I
love their beards.
First of all, the sound is much different than in the previous albums “Rise Or Die Trying” and “Enemy Of The World”. Before they started working on their new album, the band announced the departure of keyboarder Josh Lyford and that the album would have no synthesizers in it. The guys kept word - there are truely no synthesizers in the album, which affected the record to have a stronger “hard rock” side. It's understandable that they wanted to develop their style in a more mature way, but I liked the old style slightly more.
Furthermore, the drums are kinda weak if you compare them to the drums in “Enemy Of The World”. I don't know why they did this, if they wanted to get a more mature sound it would have been better to add some kick-ass-doublebass drums. Drums are mostly overrated in music scene, look for example at Avenged Sevenfolds new album. Lame Drums really cut the quality of an album.
What and how Dan and Allen are singing in “Some Way, Shape Or Form” is just heaven. Four Year Strong always had and still have great lyrics touching your heart. They're writing about life, bad and good things happening and feelings everyone has. Maybe it's just me but I also think their voices improved due to all the touring in the last years.
The songs on the record are slower, the shocking breakdowns are less, the riffs are not as freaky as in previous pieces. They are more radio-rock like and even some fans started to call the band “Foo Years Strong” (You know the Foo Fighters, right?).
Nevertheless I think the album is a piece of decent music, the songs “Just Drive” and “The Middle” even made it in my list of favorite FYS songs. I always prefered Four Year Strong over A Day To Remember, so that pretty much says it all about the quality of the guys in lumberjack shirts.
God, I love those beards.
Rating: 7/10
Songs for listening: The Middle, Just Drive
For folks who like: A Day To Remember, The Story So Far
First of all, the sound is much different than in the previous albums “Rise Or Die Trying” and “Enemy Of The World”. Before they started working on their new album, the band announced the departure of keyboarder Josh Lyford and that the album would have no synthesizers in it. The guys kept word - there are truely no synthesizers in the album, which affected the record to have a stronger “hard rock” side. It's understandable that they wanted to develop their style in a more mature way, but I liked the old style slightly more.
Furthermore, the drums are kinda weak if you compare them to the drums in “Enemy Of The World”. I don't know why they did this, if they wanted to get a more mature sound it would have been better to add some kick-ass-doublebass drums. Drums are mostly overrated in music scene, look for example at Avenged Sevenfolds new album. Lame Drums really cut the quality of an album.
What and how Dan and Allen are singing in “Some Way, Shape Or Form” is just heaven. Four Year Strong always had and still have great lyrics touching your heart. They're writing about life, bad and good things happening and feelings everyone has. Maybe it's just me but I also think their voices improved due to all the touring in the last years.
The songs on the record are slower, the shocking breakdowns are less, the riffs are not as freaky as in previous pieces. They are more radio-rock like and even some fans started to call the band “Foo Years Strong” (You know the Foo Fighters, right?).
Nevertheless I think the album is a piece of decent music, the songs “Just Drive” and “The Middle” even made it in my list of favorite FYS songs. I always prefered Four Year Strong over A Day To Remember, so that pretty much says it all about the quality of the guys in lumberjack shirts.
God, I love those beards.
Rating: 7/10
Songs for listening: The Middle, Just Drive
For folks who like: A Day To Remember, The Story So Far
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