Ok, i’m gonna be honest with you.

I’ve played this once. Last night. Whilst my girlfriend was round, whilst looking for my V5C. Which I’ve very securely misplaced.

Before I start, here are a few basic facts. The first Brand New song I heard was Sic Transit Gloria, at the time my favourite band catalogue consisted of KoRn, Slipknot, Limp Bizkit and Hell Is For Heroes. I still listen to Hell Is For Heroes (proudly) but the others, forget it. At the time I was about… 17? I don’t know. It took me a while to get onto the emo craze and I never really got into them until about 2 years ago, when I was 19, when my then current Girlfriend wanted to go see them in Birmingham. It was the gigs preluding the launch of ‘Devil & God’. I instantly… uh… found them amazing. They became my new favourite band and I’ve loved them. Hard. Ever since. I went to see them not so long ago in Birmingham and I really enjoyed it. They sounded tired and Jesse seemed to struggle but I didn’t care because I felt like this band were a part of who I was.

Yesterday night, I felt like I had just lost a brother. I played Daisy and as soon as Vices dropped after the intro I knew I was out my depth.
The new record sounds unfamiliar and disjointed. My girlfriend said as we listened to it that it was like a band who didn’t really know how they wanted to sound anymore and I think she got it right on.
A good majority of the tracks are enjoyable. Gasoline and At The Bottom are both stand out songs, deviating from what is expected of the ‘Alternative’ sound whilst remaining, in the most part, in pattern to what is expected of a post - Deja - Brand New record. But they get lost and drowned out by the rest of the record.

I really think I need to give this record a few more plays. Maybe I’ll get into it after 4 or 5 plays but I don’t know. When I first heard Mewithoutyou - Brothers & Sisters I loved it straight away. Anything that Thrice ever record I get into, admittedly it took me a while to get into the Alchemy Index but Beggars is a fantastic new record. Daisy for me, just falls outside, and I’m gonna be quiet about it now because maybe I’ll change my mind after a few plays.

And I feel like i’m insulting one of my family members or something :\