Four Year Strong – Enemy Of The World Review

Every once in awhile you come across a true ‘pump-up’ album. An album that you put on right before Warped Tour, so that random “open field” moshers seem a little more tolerable. One that you play before class and finally get up the nerve to talk to that hot guy or girl in science. Well,  besides the usual, “Do you have a pencil I can borrow?”. Four Year Strong have delivered that album.

While staying true to their sound, Four Year Strong have also taken it to the next level on their sophomore release / Universal-Motown debut “Enemy Of The World”. The pristine production mixed with the bands high level of musicianship will leave this album heavily favored over their impressive debut “Rise Or Die Trying”. The album provides head-banging breakdowns as heard on the albums opener “It Must Really Suck To Be Four Year Strong Right Now” but still showcases their signature choruses that made them who they are today. Choruses like the soon to be fan favorite “Find My Way Back” and “This Body Pays The Bill$” will have you jumping around your room in no time.

Lyrically, Enemy of The World is some of their best work yet. Lines like “And if you bring the heart/then I’ll bring the beat” from the albums title track will be seen on more social networking sites than a Fall Out Boy song. The albums title track also contains what drew me into this album the most from the start.. Gang vocals. They can be found on other tracks such as “Wasting Time (Eternal Summer)” which closes out the song with an energy packed musical drop-out of pure insanity. As well as the following (pretty much pure gang vocal) mayhem track “Nineteen With Neck Tatz”.

Now, why this Worcester, MA quintet have developed their sound both lyrically and melodically, they don’t lack musically as most bands tend to do. Josh Lyford’s synth work on the tracks “What The Hell Is A Gigawatt?” and “On A Saturday” flows seemingly with the back and forth guitar dialogue of frontmen Dan O’Connor and Alan Day.  The only issue I have is that I wish the synth was a little more dominant on this album. If used right, a synth can turn good tracks into phenomenal ones.  Overall, Enemy of The World is a well written and hard hitting pop-punk album that is sure to be a top contender for end of year lists.

My rating: 

Stand out tracks: ‘Wasting Time (Eternal Summer)’, ‘Find My Way Back’,  ‘What The Hell Is A Gigawatt?’ and ‘One Step At A Time’.

Track Listing:
1. It Must Really Suck To Be Four Year Strong Right Now
2. On A Saturday
3. Wasting Time (Eternal  Summer)
4. Nineteen With Neck Tatz
5. Find My Way Back
6. What The Hell Is A Gigawatt?
7. One Step At A Time
8. This Body Pays The Bill$
9. Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride
10. Flannel Is The Color Of My Energy
11. Enemy Of The World
Produced by: Machine

Four Year Strong is:
Dan O’Connor – vocals/guitar
Alan Day – vocals/guitar
Joe Weiss – bass
Jake Massucco – drums
Josh Lyford – synth/vocals

Enemy of The World hits stores in the US March 9th via Decaydance and Universal Motown and on May 31st in the UK via Defacto Records

Four Year Strong on the web:
Website | Myspace | Buy “Enemy of The World”

Tags: Enemy Of The World Four Year Strong Review