The year is 2009, and with many awesome and upcoming bands releasing albums like August Burns Reds “Constellations” album and The Devil Wears Pradas’ “With Roots Above and Branches Below” album, its clear to say that the mid-late 2000’s were the pinnacle of the metalcore genre. Although all of these bands were great, there is one band that did it differently.

On February 3rd, 2009, A Day To Remember’s “Homesick” album was released. The album opens up with the track “The downfall of us all.” The song starts with an a cappella intro which I honestly found a little corny at first but after the intro, it leads straight into the song with the vocalist’s harsher vocals.

Right off the bat, you can tell that the band is aiming to incorporate the pop-punk sound into its metalcore sound. What I mean is that metalcore on its own uses guitar riffs and harsh vocals that sound grungy and heavy while pop-punk uses riffs that sound more up-beat with clean vocals, so when these different genres combine, it creates something that is more fun and upbeat while still being heavy which in my opinion, feels refreshing and different from other bands at the time.

Another thing is that the album shows the band’s versatility in sound. Although the album mainly consists of heavier music, it has its calmer, more emotional moments. Take the song “If It Means A Lot To You” for example, which is the only song on the album that’s in the style of a ballad. The song starts off with an acoustic guitar and the voice of Jeremy Mckinnon, the vocalist of the band. When I listened to the song, it made me start to appreciate the vocalists’ singing voice a little more because it really got its chance to shine in this song.

Another thing is that the song features female singer, Sierra Kay, which gave the song a nice contrast between the voices of both singers.

Overall I think it’s a nice and gentle song that serves as a palette cleanser from the heavier tracks on the album. I think that this album is something that isn’t meant for the sophisticated music snobs out there but rather for younger audiences, especially angsty teenagers.

If you’re new to this type of music and want to find something that is melodical, heavy, and fun to listen to, I believe that this album will scratch that musical itch.