Miracle The eighth studio album from A Day To Remember, called Big Ole Album Vol. 1, finds the band at a bit of a crossroads. This is the first record without founding bassist Josh Woodard, who departed the band in October 2021 due to allegations of misconduct, and A Day To Remember try to regain their footing after the lukewarm reception of their last record, You’re Welcome. Big Ole Album Vol. 1 features a litany of producers, six in total, including lead vocalist Jeremy McKinnon and the album has a bit of a tough time finding its direction. The album feels like an A Day To Remember record, but with so many artistic directions taken here, it’s a bit of a jarring listening experience. Instead, the album plays out almost like a “Greatest Hits” set that goes through the ground the band covered since their early days to now. Preceded by a physical only release on February 21st of this year, the streaming date has arrived for an album that has already achieved a Top Five Billboard 200 debut.
The album opens with one of the first singles to be released in the set, “Make It Make Sense,” that features an abrasive guitar riff by Kevin Skaff before rhythm guitarist Neil Westfall adds in some contextual layers for McKinnon to place his near-screamed vocals on. The chorus features a melodic breakdown and has everything that we’ve come to expect from A Day To Remember. “Feedback” is a speedy rocker that admits, “If I wanna hear your feedback / I’ll let you know.” The punk rock driven song accelerates to the finish line and makes for a memorable part of the opening stages of the album. “Bad Blood” follows in the sequencing and features some atmospheric elements, like a church bell in the background, to set the stage for the post hardcore song. The second verse of, “Don’t get it twisted / I know that ya like rewriting history / And if it helps you sleep at night / You can lie to yourself / But you can’t lie to me,” is a pointed statement of addressing the naysayers to what the band is going for. The song also features a pretty nice guitar solo from Skaff before a heavy bridge breakdown allows for the hardcore kids to mosh their hearts out.
”All My Friends” recalls the more melodic moments of Common Courtesy and What Separates Me From You, and it ended up being one of my favorite tracks on the record. I’ve always appreciated the more mid-tempo songs from A Day To Remember that rely on clean vocals to showcase their heavy pop-punk sound that still works pretty well to this day. “To The Death” is the polar opposite of the aforementioned track with almost a NIN-type of industrial sound that sounds like the band was trying to write a song for a Mortal Kombat soundtrack. The chorus prevents the song from being too dark, but ultimately the melodies are short lived.
”Flowers” gets back to the more comfortable sounding melodic vibes of A Day To Remember, as McKinnon sings on the crowd-pleasing chorus of “I don’t wanna wait until the party’s over / To tell you everything I should say sober / Cause you don’t know you left the good ole days / Until they’re dust in the wind / Now suddenly the years are feeling shorter / Nobody wants to hear but we’re getting older / So I’m not gonna wait another month / Or even an hour / To give you your flowers.” It’s a nice admission from the vocalist of giving credit where its due. “LeBron” begins with a riff similar to Fountains of Wayne’s “Stacy’s Mom” and ends up being a curious choice of a single from the set. The lyrics in the chorus are a bit clumsy with, “Bring home another dub for my city and run / Like it’s 2016, and I’m LeBron / How many rings I need ‘fore you’ll say I’m the one?” Luckily the set improves a bit from this point on.
”Die For Me” just might be the best song that A Day To Remember have made this decade with a well-written chorus of “Remember when you said that you would die for me? / Walk through the fire, burn alive for me? / Took an oath, signed in blood / And now we don’t even speak.” The vivid lyrical imagery makes for a memorable middle section of the LP. The band even chooses to add in some keyboards at the conclusion of each chorus to keep things interesting. “Miracle” was first released back in the mid-summer of 2022 to hint at the direction the band would be taking on the new album, and it does feel a bit out of place in the sequencing of this record. It plays out almost like a bonus track from the record, and the dark-tinged sound is a bit of a departure from the punk band.
”Same Team” is more of an experimental type of track that features some programmed beats in the early stages of the verses before getting back to a comfortable pacing in the chorus. The song has a bit of a tough time finding its direction, and it almost seems like the track was written in sections and then put back together “Frankenstein” style. “Silence” is a brooding song about the dangers of standing by silently when the world around us crumbles, while the closer of “Closer Than You Think” pushes the needle of positivity towards Big Ole Album Vol. 1. It wraps up a bit of a disjointed record on the right footing and gives longtime fans of the band hope that A Day To Remember has the right tools at their disposal to figure things out on Vol. 2.