Album Review: A Day to Remember-Common Courtesy

The creation process of A Day to Remember's fourth full-length album, Common Courtesy, was about as tumultuous as you can get in the music industry. Their record label Victory Records refused to pay them royalties, which lead to the band filing a lawsuit against them. In response to the band's lawsuit, Victory refused to give them an advance for their new record. With Victory refusing to pay them and the whole album being written and ready to record, the band decided to fund the entire recording process themselves by building a recording studio in vocalist Jeremy McKinnon's house to produce the album. A Day to Remember then got sued by Victory for breaching their contract and recording an album on their own without the backing of the label. After months of messy court proceedings between the two parties, a judge ruled the band could release Common Courtesy on their own without Victory's blessing. After giving it a couple of spins, I can say without hesitation that the struggle to release Common Courtesy was well worth it.   

After their underwhelming last record What Separates Me from You strayed a bit from their typical musical direction, Common Courtesy sees the band returning to their roots. The energy that ruled their earlier material and was noticeably absent from What Separates Me from You returns with a vengeance on Common Courtesy. The effect of the legal dispute between them and their record label seems to have rekindled their fire as a band and put the emotion back into their music. Aside from ballads "I'm Already Gone", "I Surrender" and "End of Me",  this album gives you no time to breathe. The band bombards the listener with a series of whirlwind tracks and it makes for an absorbing, consistently fun listen throughout.

Album opener, "City of Ocala", is a blazing opener that sets the tone for the album: Big hooks, catchy riffs and a theme of not forgetting where you came from (the lyrics reflect the band's hometown and their origin as a band.) "City of Ocala" serves as the perfect metaphor for Common Courtesy: This is a band that has become very popular, but amidst that popularity haven't forgotten where they started from and the type of music that got them to where they are currently as a band.  The energetic spark that fuels that record becomes further evident on tracks like "Sometimes You're the Hammer, Sometimes You're the Nail" and "The Document Speaks for Itself", which is a direct shot at Victory for violating the terms of their record contract. These tracks mark the points where the energy level goes from high to downright unfathomable. Both of these songs are absolute forces of nature with their intensity and colossal sound that is sure to incite mosh pits and sing-a-longs galore at their future live shows.

Though the return of the energy and passion to their music is key, the really special thing about Common Courtesy is the maturation of sound the band has taken. The pop-punk and metalcore elements of their music have never been better written or executed in their prior music. A Day to Remember has always challenged the genre norms by fusing together two radically different genres of music, but it's not until now they've achieved the perfect balance of the two.  The band takes a more nuanced approach to songwriting with more bits of melody on the pop-punk tracks and gradual buildups to the breakdowns on the metal tracks.   Their past records suffered a bit from more of a focus on one side of their sound, Common Courtesy finally sees the band spending equal time on both sides and it shows in the quality of the album. On top of the pop-punk/metalcore hybrid they've become known for, they experiment a tad with other genres on this record. "End of Me" is a fresh take on a power ballad with a huge alternative-rock influence and "Life Lessons Learned the Hard Way" is a borderline death metal track with the heaviest riffing A Day to Remember has ever had. A Day to Remember is damn good at what they do, but it's cool to see them branch out and add some new influences to their arsenal.

Common Courtesy is a major return to form for A Day to Remember. You rarely see a band as popular make such a stride forward when they've already established such a big following. The whole chaos in creating this album was honestly the best possible that could've happened to this band. They started to lose their edge and began phoning it in a bit then this horrible situation occurs and they rise from the ashes stronger than ever. Common Courtesy is the strongest release A Day to Remember has put to-date and all but assures they will get a huge record deal once this whole situation with Victory Records is solved once and for all.

4/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Sometimes You're the Hammer, Sometime You're the Nail
2.Life Lessons Learned the Hard Way
3.City of Ocala