Rise Or Die Trying - Four Year Strong Album Review

Four Year Strong - Photo: Kyle Holmquist link

Album Review

The band's first release on a major record label, Four Year Strong's 'Rise Or Die Trying' album is a mixture of emo-esque vocals, hardcore sounding instrumentals with an element of pop-punk drizzled within their songs. This emerges as a sound that sounds similar to many bands, yet they still sound something unique and unconventional.

The band's unique style becomes evident within the opening few tracks of the album, with 'Prepare to Be Digitally Manipulated' bearing heavy drums and pop inspired vocals. The track even features screamo and double-pedalled bass drumming, showing the diversity of style the band offer.

One of the better tracks from the record is 'Catastrophe', which includes addictive lyrics with soft vocals, without the band deterring from their hardcore backing sound. The familiar lyrics of:

You'll always be such a catastrophe;

within the song lives long in the memory, and is one of the more simplistically structured tracks from the album.

'Bada Bing! Wit' a Pipe!' offers a more conventional pop-punk introduction, yet Four Year Strong pull out more surprises with a heavier chorus and P!ATD sounding vocal work. The unusual combination of mixing metal and pop appears to have worked for the band, although they lack any songs which a passing listener could immediately grasp.

'Maniac (R.O.D.)' again defies musical conventions with even heavier sounding instrumentals, screamo-infused backing vocals whilst still following a pop-based vocal sound. The track features the now familiar double-bass pedalled drums, with distorted guitars. The song is one of the albums tracks which grow on you quickly, and the ever changing tempo of the song is a huge selling point.

This album has really interested me. In a currently dull and drab rock scene consisting of Nickleback re-releases and teenage bands churning out remarkably basic material, Four Year Strong have forged their own niche by broadly attempting to incorporate several genres into one eleven track record. Maybe the songs aren't all masterpieces, and the lyrics might not be laced in heartfelt expression, but the band have gone out on a limb and created a hugely experimental yet musically fulfilling record. These guys not hitting the mainstream astounds me. Their next release surely has to land them somewhere within rocks mainstream. Time will tell.

Tom Crowther