A Day to Remember

Item: And Their Name Was Treason
Author: John Durkee

And Their Name Was Treason

(2005)

Reviewed by John Durkee

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Label Indianola RecordsDecapolisJune 2005

pop punk post-hardcore

Screamo is now cliche, and everyone knows it. There are ways that screamo bands add new elements to the style here and there, but for the most part, we all know what to expect from it. Poppy sung choruses, with screams howling over and catchy guitar lines, with a few breakdowns thrown in and perhaps a ballad for good measure. A Day to Remember (ADR) has all these elements, and while they are done well and have some of its own sound, it's been heard before. ADR's album And Their Name Was Treason has more hardcore elements and has an acoustic ballad, but overall it's a typical screamo album. The lyrics are also fairly typical, as they are either obsessive about a girl or just cliche. The perfect example is the song "You Had Me at Hello." I admit I do like the movie Jerry Maguire, but to whine the punch line of the movie over and over is just too cliche for the song to have any real meaning.

The album opens with the obsessive sounding whispers of a stalker with a haunting piano and finally a dark voice saying, "I've been watching you," that goes into the first real song, "Heartless," the most hardcore song on the album and one of the more enjoyable tracks. The next song, "Your Way with Words is Through Silence," is easily the best song on the album with a great melody and a chorus that will stay in your head for the rest of the day. After this there are other bright spots, but for the most part it's downhill after track three.

ADR may be cliche, and not add a lot to their genre; they do well with what they're doing and are better than most screamo bands. If you're a fan of the genre, this is well worth it, but otherwise And Their Name Was Treason is a bit forgettable.