Reviews list for Day to Remember, A - Big Ole Album Vol. 1 (2025)

Ah yes, A Day To Remember. How could I ever forget? One of the 2010's most mainstream and pop friendly metalcore bands. They have returned with their first album since 2021's abysmal You're Welcome and showed just why ADTR (A Day To Remember) are so unnecessary  in 2025. Here we have a band doing the exact same thing that Architects tried with their last album as they sheepishly modulate back-and-forth between modern metalcore trends, while staying close to their comfort zone that made them so popular with Homesick. And I guess on a purely sonic level, Big Ole Album Vol. 1 can be a promising listen. Unfortunately, ADTR have forgotten the most important part of easycore, which is the pop adjacent choruses. They might still be here in practice, but in execution, they are severely lacking. Some of them are okay (i.e. "Flowers" and "Miracle"), but more often than not this album turns into monotonous mush. Whether it be the painfully generic breakdown structure, the weak electronic percussion, the poor low end in the mixing, or the atrocious volume modulation that persists throughout the entire album! There is no way that anyone who has worked with a rock band before (or ever recorded anything in their life) would think that consistently adjusting a tracks volume in the middle of recording/mixing was a good idea. But, like Architects, it butchered whatever good graces the last three albums may have had, and mostly does the same here. The bands intent to not be taken seriously is at least a more promising takeaway than Architects, or any other modern metalcore act, but it does become less fun when the songs are this formless. 

P.S. "Die For Me" is a poor excuse of a country rock crossover, probably due to the Hardy collaboration a couple of years ago. I would call it bad, but that would be too generous.

Best Song: Flowers, Silence