This Is Our Year

Life As We Know It

Written by: PP on 02/09/2013 22:51:43

Heads up easycore fans who like their pop punk crunchy with a heavy twist of post-hardcore, for here we have yet another aspiring band allowing themselves healthy doses of privilege to loan material from A Day To Remember's back catalogue. This Is Our Year, who hail from Plainfield, Illinois, launched their debut album "Life As We Know It" earlier this year which sources its primary influence from ADTR, but also throws in curveballs in the form of melancholic, tormented emo/post-hardcore melodies that recall the first Greeley Estates album and why not also some early melodies by The Used in its angsty delivery.

Those are rather unusual elements in easycore that normally thrives from infectious, upbeat melodies and a summery vibe that's contrasted by metalcore-esque breakdowns and aggressive mosh pits. And fear not, those sections are also present here. A song like "Dedication & Heart" is maddeningly catchy in its clean vocal melody, but isn't afraid to transition directly into juxtaposed clean/scream verses, and heavy instrumentation when deemed necessary. Similarly, "Safety In Numbers" throws itself over to breakdowns and harsh riffing, before returning to Greeley Estates-style clean vocal melodies and happier guitars shortly after. Think Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!, except a way more angsty and emo version - and in this case that's not a negative remark by any means.

"I'm Not A Coward, I'm A Realist" also sports some particularly strong emo undertones as mentioned just before, where melancholic clean vocals are again geared towards the catchy end of the spectrum, while here also brighter pop punk melodies can be spotted against the crunchy guitar work underneath. It's a surprisingly interesting mix of different genres that I haven't really heard exposed in this way since the mid 2000s, so thumbs up for This Is Our Year for being able to convey that sound without sounding dated at all. Quite the contrary: "Life As We Know It" is a solid easycore record that goes a little bit in different direction from the usual suspects within the genre.

Download: Dedication & Heart; I'm Not A Coward, I'm A Realist
For the fans of: A Day To Remember, early Greeley Estates, Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!, The Used
Listen: Facebook

Release date 09.04.2013
Stayposi Records

Related Items | How we score?
Comments
comments powered by Disqus

Legal

© Copyright MMXXIV Rockfreaks.net.