We've all done it - you mention a band unfamiliar to your friend and they'll ask "What does it sound like?" and being lazy North Americans we'll often reply with a barrage of noteworthy names just recognizable enough to wipe the inquisitive look from our hapless chum's face, and just obscure enough to retain "street cred" with the remainder of our peers.
Well, with A Day To Remember's debut album And Their Name Was Treason, it gets even easier to compare - now you can be as specific as you want: "Well, the verse is {insert band A here} and the chorus is all {insert band B here}." This method of describing an album is easy to do, but more often than not, does not make for a good album to describe.
...Treason starts off, surprisingly enough, much more aggressive than the emo stance the band appears to take in their photographs. So much so, that you wonder how this As I Lay Dying-style aggression can be played so effectively whilst gazing at your shoes. The answer hits as soon as the chorus kicks in - the most unabashed pop-punk hook-laden twaddle this side of a Warped Tour 8pm slot.
To call ADTR derivative would be an accurate statement. It would also be accurate to call their debut album a very frustrating listen. As such, there's really no reason why we shouldn't be hearing them on those newfangled alternative radio stations the kids are all listening to along with the ubiquitous Blink 41 and The Sum 182's.
It's all there - the eighth grade lovesick lyrics: "You're the one worth waiting for. You're all I've ever needed in this life" from "A Second Glance", or "Something's wrong and it's not me for once and I'll know you'll call me crazy" from "If Looks Could Kill". Granted, lyrics like this are always made funnier when the person singing them is trying to sound like Max Cavalera, but it doesn't really make them better. I assume these lyrics are the fault of singer Jeremy McKinnon, but as the liner notes state the songs were written by the band as a whole, the blame is harder to place. A wise old man named David Lowery once said "What the world needs now, is some true words of wisdom - like lala la la la la la lala." He was being ironic, but apparently not everybody got it.
Guitarists Neil Westfall and Tom Denney do a passable job - almost admirable considering the material they have to work with (or maybe not, as they apparently co-wrote it) and Bobby Scruggs' drumming is at times so sloppy, one wonders if he's a relative of an executive at Indianola Records. It's hard enough to find music that can even fleetingly be called original, but it's bands like A Day To Remember that remind us that we need to look a whole lot harder.
