A Day To RememberFor Those Who Have HeartVictory RecordsTwo-and-a-half out of five stars
A Day To Remember’s follow-up album, For Those Who Have Heart, is forgettable to a certain degree. Perhaps, as the band’s name implies, one listen might just get one to remember the one and only day this CD was listened to, but in all seriousness, this album’s not half bad (OK, maybe not more than half bad).
A Day To Remember dishes out a series of pop hooks and emo-ish vocals to rival the best of them. Drums never stray too far from punk beats while the guitars and bass deliver pretty much what’s expected–that is, until For Those Who Have Heart busts out the ace up its sleeve: the hardcore/mosh/grind edge.
What’s unexpected is that the heavier elements on this album shine in their own regards. Singer Jeremy McKinnon handles both soft and hard vocals well and doesn’t sound strained in either platform. However, I should note that the pop sound could be the gimmick and not the other way around.
Whatever. Now comes the bad.
For Those Who Have Heart never strays far from its influences. It’s a pioneer in the substandard. Lyrically, most of the tracks have a hardcore feel but come off as unoriginal and humdrum-e.g., “They’re coming straight for me/ Just let me go for now/ I’ll be just fine/ Don’t ya know now that I’m back on my own/ Tell me how it feels to watch the walls of your security crumble.”
Sweet?
For me, A Day To Remember should really have just picked a genre and stuck with it, but instead, For Those Who Have Heart takes a double-edged approach that leaves no defense.
Granted, if punk with an edge and some pop piques the interest, this album will deliver.
Nevertheless, For Those Who Have Heart is an album I’d rather overlook.
