- Feb 27, 2020

FOUR YEAR STRONG "Brain Pain" ALBUM REVIEW

After half of a decade's wait, the bearded pop-punk quartet known as Four Year Strong have finally released the follow-up to their self-titled 2015 album and it was well worth the wait.

BRAIN PAIN is the band's fifth full-length studio album out just before leap year via Pure Noise Records. It's been nearly 20 years since the boys from Four Year Strong have been making music music together after forming in 2001 while the guys were in high school in Worcester, Massachusetts. The band's 2007 release Rise or Die Trying with I Surrender Records peaked at number 31 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart in its debut week. Their third full-length album sold 12,400 copies in its first week, debuting at number 47 on the Billboard 200.

I feel like Four Year Strong's albums grow with me as each one comes out. BRAIN PAIN is no exception. It's cliche' as hell to say that the band matures but I guess that's the best word to use. Opening track "It's Cool" is just that, cool. Calm, cool, collected. Or so you think. For the first half of the song your met with this opening riff and soft lyrics, then in typical FYS fashion your met with a wall of sound and a bat out of hell pandora's box of mayhem.

Songs like Get Out Of My Head, Talk Myself in Circles are just chill head bobbing songs that get you lost in the chorus easily singing "So Get Out Of My Head" outloud.

Whereas songs like Crazy Pills, and title track Brain Pain have that signature chaotic pop-punk sound that FYS is known for with the unpredictable breakdowns, stop-breaks, cut time parts and blast beats.

The album brings together a lot of dynamics as well with quite a few songs that are slowed down songs like Be Good When I'm Gone and closing track Young at Heart which is the longest track on the album at a whopping 4:07. Both tracks build up throughout with these amazing crescendos with a ton of dynamics and are really the palate cleansers of the album.

Don't fret though, there's a ton of that old school Four Year Strong sound spread out throughout the album. It really feels like they took it back with this record with tunes like Mouth Full of Dirt, Usefully Useless, Learn To Love The Lie, and The Worst Part About Me. It's like they found the best parts of the their last studio albums and fused them together and melted them together to make this one record, especially on the last few songs that I mentioned.

Four Year Strong's Brain Pain is out everywhere February 28th, via Pure Noise Records. Don't take my word for it, check out their latest single Learn To Love The Lie below and find out for yourself!

You can also check out the band on tour this summer with Silverstein and I The Mighty on select North American tour dates!

LEARN TO LOVE THE LIE

Tour Dates:

02/28 London, ON @ London Music Hall 02/29 Montreal, QC @ Le National 03/01 Quebec City, QC @ Imperial 03/03 Boston, MA @ House of Blues 03/04 Albany, NY @ Upstate Concert Hall 03/06 New York, NY @ Webster Hall 03/07 Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom 03/08 Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore 03/10 Baltimore, MD @ Rams Head Live! 03/11 Charlotte, NC @ The Underground 03/13 Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade 03/14 St Petersburg, FL @ Jannus Live 03/15 New Orleans, LA @ Civic Theatre

03/16 Houston, TX Warehouse 03/19 Dallas, TX @ Gas Monkey Live 03/20 San Antonio, TX @ Vibes 03/21 Oklahoma City, OK @ Diamond Ballroom 03/22 Albuquerque, NM @ Sunshine 03/24 Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl 03/25 Phoenix, AZ @ Marquee 03/27 Los Angeles, CA @ Belasco 03/28 Anaheim, CA @ House of Blues 03/29 San Francisco, CA @ Regency 03/31 Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom

04/01 Seattle, WA @ The Showbox 04/03 Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot 04/04 Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre 04/05 Kansas City, MO @ Truman 04/07 Chicago, IL @ Concord Music Hall 04/08 Cincinnati, OH @ Bogarts 04/09 Detroit, MI @ Royal Oak 04/10 Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues 04/11 Toronto, ON @ Danforth