A DAY TO REMEMBER COMMON COURTESY

Welcome to A Day To Remember, king of catchy riffs, hardcore breakdowns, and choruses that you can never freaking get out of your head!

I'm reviewing their new album "Common Courtesy" that was released on the web October 8th, while the physical copy is due to release on Novemeber 25th. But first, a little background on the band.

A Day to Remember is an American Metalcore band from Ocala, Florida, founded in 2003 by guitarist Tom Denney and drummer Bobby Scruggs. They quickly became famous for their unique combination of punk style clean vocal choruses with metalcore screams and instrumentals. The band consists of vocalist Jeremy McKinnon, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Neil Westfall, bassist Joshua Woodard, percussion and drummer Alex Shelnutt and lead guitarist Kevin Skaff.

When the band was first starting out, they played numerous shows in their home town of Ocala Florida, racking up a portfolio of over 200 independent shows. With a sizable crowd of dedicated home-town fans, they self released their very first EP, which was sold at their live shows. This got the attention of Indianola studios, a metalcore record label studio which offered to sign A Day To Remember. Through Indianola they produced their first full length album debut, And Their Name Was Treason, selling over 8,000 copies. The band's success grew further, which got the attention of the prestigious record label, Victory Records. Victory offered to sign them, and ADTR agreed, producing multiple albums through their label, including For Those Who Have Heart (2006-2008), Homesick, (2008–2010), What Separates Me from You (2010–2012), and their newest album Common Courtesy (2012–present).

I've been a HUGE fan of ADTR since the release of their album "What Separates You From Me" in 2010. After I heard the song right below, I bought everything they've ever made, all before showing them to my friends and making them buy all their Cd's too! Now that you know a little bit about A Day To Remember, lets hear how badass they sound and how fabulous their music video is! Song name is "I'm made of wax larry what are you made of" from their 2012 album, What Separates Me from You . Don't question the song title, just listen and watch. The second video under it is a leak of the song "Sometimes you're the hammer, sometimes you're the nail" from their new album, "Common Courtesy".

Badass synchronized headbang

A Day To Remember is a bit unique in their progression; most bands in the metalcore genre change dramatically throughout their career, going through "phases", while A Day To Remember keeps their catchy punkish metalcore theme through and through every album, simply improving musically instead of changing. When you compare the song from their older album to the one from "Common Courtesy" their signature punkish metal theme rings true, while their guitarist Tom Denny became even better at making tasty guitar licks, their drummer Alex Shellnut dishes out even faster blast beats, their bassist Joshua Woodard drops the bass harder than ever, and their main and backup vocalists Jeremy Mckinnon and Neil Westfall sing and scream better than ever.




A Day To Remember is a special band in it's intriguing uniqueness, ESPECIALLY in their newest release. It stands out with it's compelling amalgamation of punk-rock with metalcore, totally avoiding the stereotype for the usual "high pitched clean vocalists" common to strictly metalcore bands, providing a new sound for the metalcore fan base. This awesomely unique sound reaches out to a demographic of people who love both metalcore and punk-rock, often times even bringing them together. I for one can say I never had much interest in punk rock, but once I got the punk style choruses of "Common Courtesy" stuck in my head, I found myself YouTube-ing some classic punk bands. Another thing that makes A Day To Remember's newest album remarkable is the message they spread through their music. They have a repeated trend of telling their audience that it doesn't matter where your from, what your background is, or what anyone or anything tries to tell you about yourself. You are what you define yourself as and you can do anything you want to do in life. This encouraging moral breaks the mold of the stereotypical "dark" or "evil" label metal has, helping reflect to society the fact that just because you scream doesn't mean you're screaming about death and misery. Lastly, the range of the music in this album goes even past their unique combination of two genres. The band can create songs ranging from a catchy punkish tune, to a hardcore mosh pit song, to a song that makes you cry every time you hear it. The video below is a song  "If it means a lot to you" that is about Jeremy's (the lead vocalist) wife whom divorced him over the fact that he was away too often with the band. The song is extremely powerful and touching.

"COMMON COURTESY" STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES!

Strengths

1. Great lyrics with an inspiring message of self-worth
2. Improved instrumentals throughout the band
3. Impressive range of songs (mosh pit songs to love songs)
4. Ridiculously catchy choruses 
5. Greatly improved screams from Jeremy when compared to the previous album

Weaknesses

1. The combination of metalcore and punk-rock is awesome for some, however, if you personally hate one of the genres in the mix, be it metalcore or punk-rock, you won't like "Common Courtesy" where as you might love it if it was strictly metalcore or punk-rock.
2. ADTR's new album stays very true to their specific sound. This will be great for those who adore their sound, (me) but for those who prefer the metalcore stereotype of change, you might be disappointing by the lack of stylistic innovation.

Professional critics made about the same conclusion I did. The albums strength comes in it's catchy lyrics and development of the bands musical talent, however, their newest album is "Truly a textbook A Day To Remember album" (Alternative Press Review). The sound does in fact improve in quality, but their is no stylistic innovation. "You can easily both condemn the record for being formulaic, or praise it for staying true to the band’s clearly defined sound. It’s really all a matter of how you look at it." (Alternative Press Review)

MY REVIEW OVERALL!

As a whole, the album is one of the best metal albums that has been released in years. Solid lyrics, vocals, instrumentals, and the catchiest choruses of all time. The only thing that held me back from saying it was perfect was just how textbook-of-an-album it is. I truly do love the sound A Day To Remember brings with "Common Courtesy" although I would love to see that sound have a few new tricks up it's sleeve.

My God this show is BADASS

After 10 years of peace and prosperity, the looming threat of the enigma known as "the titan" pushes the whole world to the brink of extinction in a single moment. Will humanity fall to the beasts or will they rise up against seemingly insurmountable odds and become the hunter?  ATTACK ON TITAN!

Now that I have your attention, welcome to my blog about the latest and greatest anime, Attack on Titan (Shingeki No Kyojin) written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama, that can be found on various anime/T.V website like Hulu, Crunchy Roll, Neon Alley, and many others.

I'm a bit of an anime buff, I've seen a lot of anime in my day. Instead of watching South Park, The Walking Dead, or Breaking Bad, I'll sit down with my laptop and watch Bleach, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Hellsing, or the masterpiece I'm bringing to you now, Attack on Titan. For some reason anime is stereotypically labeled as childish, nerdy, or what be it. I believe this stereotype was crafted out of ignorance, as there there are a number of astonishingly beautiful anime that will make anyone cry, laugh, cringe, or make you open your eyes wide, drop your jaw and say my God this show is BADASS. So anime fans and non-anime fans alike, welcome to Attack on Titan!

Attack on Titan is an on-going anime that is aired weekly on Saturdays (I eagerly await each release) that takes place in a non definite era of swords and black powder guns, where a looming new danger threatens the existence of humanity. Roughly 100 years prior to the series, enormous human-like giants known as titans appear out of an unknown origin, and begin a reign of horror. These titans seem to have little to no intelligence, but have incredibly hard skin, and regenerate from any form of damage almost instantly, save the base of their necks; for unknown reasons titans are instantly killed if you incise a deep wound at the base of their necks. Titans also have no reproductive organs, as well as having no digestive organs. When a titan devours a large number of humans, they vomit them up in a grotesque mass of indistinguishable body parts. Considering this, it's assumed that titans have no need for physical sustenance, instead they devour humans and humans alone for some other purpose.




As humans are devoured to the brink of extinction by these beasts, man-kind begins their plan for survival. Humanity takes advantage of the only know weakness of the titans, the base of their necks. They create a weapon called 3D maneuver gear. This weapon consists of dual swords with a grappling hook function that can attach to tree, rock, and flesh alike, then reconcile the user at high speeds, allowing the human military an agility advantage over the titans, as well as a fairly viable offense. (they're pretty much spider-man with swords)

Despite humanity's attempts at combat, the hunger of the titans overcomes. In defense, humanity erects 3 50 meter high walls surrounding the last remaining capital city, in an attempt to live out their lives in a cage from the beasts. To the joy of all man-kind, these walls work perfectly, and humanity can live out their lives as normal, all with the hungry titans
clawing at them from behind the walls.

Eren Jaeger

Mikasa Ackerman

Armin Arlert

With the back story concluded, let's jump into episode 1. Episode 1 begins with the protagonist Eren Jaeger (voiced by Yuki Kaji) having a nightmare about the titans breaking into the walls. As he shakes and yells, he is awoken by his adopted sister Mikasa Ackerman (voiced by Yui Ishikawa). After Eren has calmed down, he explains how he wants to join the military to explore the outside world in an effort to help humanity take a step forward. Mikasa reprimands him, explaining how dangerous it is and how many people die by venturing outside the walls. Suddenly the two are interrupted by a familiar cry; they hear their life-long friend Armin Arlet (voiced by Marina Inoue). Armin is being beaten up by bullies after he expressed that he believes humanity needs to venture out to learn about the titans. Eren and Mikasa come to Armin's defense, the bullies laugh and taunt as Eren approaches, but run in fear the moment they see Mikasa; her being a total bad-ass. Then, COMMERCIAL BREAK! The initial demographic for advertising fits with the show's rating. Before episode 1 they have a blatant, in your face warning about blood, gore, and intense violence, warning no one under 18 to watch the show. Following at the first commercial break, they have a Bacardi Rum commercial. Egging on the under-aged 18 year olds are we Bacardi? Secondly came a commercial for the cheap and amazing Google Chrome laptop. Twice in a row. An internet T.V show website does seem like an appropriate place to advertise the latest and greatest laptop. The last commercial was a long-winded advertisement about how great Hulu Plus is, focusing on how it's add free. A commercial about not having
commercials. Well played Hulu, well played.

When Attack on Titan returns, you find Eren, Mikasa, and Armin walking back to their homes for dinner. Eren and Mikasa arrive for a casual meal with their mother and father, until the mood is broken by Mikasa leaking Eren's secret desire of wanting to join the military. His mother is outraged from the fear of her son putting his life in such dire stakes, imploring he change his mind. Eren replies with a stunning retort "I know how any people have died outside those walls, but if we live out our lives afraid in these walls, we're nothing but cattle, and if no one takes their place, all their deaths will be in vain"! Eren bolts out of the house followed by Mikasa, seeking out Armin to confide in. He finds him near the center of the city, and has a conversation featuring a foreboding monologue by Armin. "Nobody fears the titans anymore. Everyone feels like just because we've been safe for 100 years, we'll be safe forever. But there's no guarantee that the walls won't fall today". Then, COMMERCIAL BREAK. The demographic for the ad's seems to follow suit with the first set; a Geico commercial (because those are freaking everywhere), a re-run about how awesome Hulu Plus is (making note that it's cheaper than Netflix by the way), and an advertisement about all the action movies that Hulu has to offer. The last ad seems well placed as Attack on Titan is very much so an action based anime.


When Attack on Titan returns, you hear a re-run of Armins monologue, followed by an dramatic view and still-shot of the largest of the 3 walls. In a suspenseful crack, a window shattering bang is heard, followed by the sight of a lightning bolt striking the ground just outside the walls. Arising from the sundered ground comes a titan wielding a stature the likes of which none had ever seen. The colossal titan casts a shadow over the denial filled eyes of humanity, lurches back, and knees open the precious wall. After a chaotic burst of rubble, the colossus disappears in a flash of lightning. Hungry titans storm through the hole in the wall, devouring humans left and right. A piece of rubble is seen flying off in the distance, crashing into a familiar house. Eren explodes towards the sight of impact, knowing it crashed into his home where his mother and father were. Erin and Mikasa arrive at the scene to find their mother half crushed by a boulder. She tells them that their father had escaped, but her legs are crushed, and there's nothing they can do for her but run. Eren ignores her plea to escape, attempting to lift the rubble off of her. She cries "Eren! Please I can hear one approaching! Why don't you ever listen to your mother, please Erin just do this one last thing and run away! Take Mikasa and run!" Suddenly a military officer appears, wielding the 3D maneuver gear. He boasts that he will kill the approaching titan and save all three of them. The soldier sprints around the corner to face the titan, but his bravery is crushed at the sight of the monster, and he fleas back to Eren and Mikasa, grabbing them and running. Eren screams for him to let him go so he can save his mother, but the soldier continues to run in a frantic sprint. Eren looks back to see the titan rambling through the rubble covering his beloved mother. In tears of fear, rage and fright, Eren screams as the smirking titan lifts his mother off the ground. Eren's mother screams "Eren, Mikasa, live on"! The titan holds Eren's struggling mother in the air, lurches back, and reveals his saliva covered teeth. The beast creaks open his mouth and slowly botes down on the screaming mother, lacerating her in two only meters away from the eyes of her son. The screen fades to black as Eren screams one final time in a tortuosly agonizing tone, saturated saturated in unparalleled eructation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ka-DN2CMdg <--(Scene of Erin's mother's death. I implore you to watch it, my summary doesn't do the intensity justice. 2 minutes.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTbHwubIj1M<--( Music video that really does perfect justice to the overall persona of the show. Truly epic. Check it out. 4 minutes.)

THE OVERALL MOOD

As I (hopefully) exuded in my summary of episode 1, Attack on Titan has a thoroughly intense mood from various angles. It has the obvious strive to survive, along with the deep relationships that are built, especially between Eren and Mikasa. There are numerous times when I found myself clenching my teeth and opening my eyes wide at the fear of one of my beloved characters dying; and often times they did.

STEREOTYPES? COMPARISONS?

The show does hold some similarities and mainstream instances/character traits, as it is an apocalyptic theme. Apocalypse themes such as zombie breakouts have been done often, however, despite Attack on Titan being centered around a flesh devouring threat to humanity, it's presented in an extremely unique way; especially when the origin of the beasts are hinted at. As far as character traits and stereotypes, this show embraces and ignores the staple characters for an anime. The majority of anime shows have 3 characters; a protagonist whom doesn't necessarily excel at combat, but wields a special ability, a physically weak tactician, and a chaotic bad-ass. The 3 main characters do fit these rolls with Eren as the enigmatic protagonist, Armin as the tactician, and Mikasa as the bad-ass, however it differs by having a female as the physically and mentally strongest character. She fits the roll that is usually given to a male, and it's done without compromising any facet of the roll, or her as a character.

 

GOOD: Unique world and story

The world in Attack on Titan goes about an apocalyptic world differently than the norm. Most world ending calamities are cause by a war, zombies, or aliens, where Attack on Titan has a unique peril; giant man-eating humanoid creatures with an unknown origin, combated in a sword wielding spider-man proxy fashion. The story and feel of the show is also excellent, posing a very interesting and deep story, along with a powerful sense of tension. The viewer is more inclined to wonder when their favorite character will die, opposed to if their favorite character will die.
 

GOOD: Powerful Character Development

Despite the brutal fast paced the show features, it also goes very deep into each character. A fantastic example is Mikasa Ackerman. Mikasa has a unfazed, calm and collected demeanor, but behind it is a deep and interesting character. Whether it's her butchering titans like a total bad-ass, or a scene about her back story, she is a fully developed, compelling character.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TZ6EcUKPg8<--( Video about Mikasa's compelling back story. Very powerful story writing. 4 minutes)

GOOD: Well above average animation

This section really speaks for its self, the animation in Attack on Titan is well above par compared to most shows

 

 

BAD: Poor pacing

 





At times the pacing can be poor. There is occasionally large gaps between calm and action, which can induce surprise, but also can take away from the blow.

ATTACK ON TITAN OVERALL!

 

I would give the show a strong 9 out of 10, the pacing being the only thing that keeps it from being a perfect 10. Even with that flaw, it still stands out as one of the best anime's of all time; and it's not even finished yet.

 

 http://kotaku.com/attack-on-titan-is-good-so-far-but-doesnt-live-up-to-643242311<--(Link to another review. I agree completely with this official review, only disagreeing with extent of damage the less than optimal pacing deals.)