It's finally here. Indie alt rock/emo/post-hardcore outfit Brand New released their fifth (and potentially final) album, "Science Fiction." It’s been eight years since the release of their last record, "Daisy," and the band teased that a breakup is impending in 2018.
Needless to say, the anticipation for this release was intense, especially given the band’s mysterious social media presence.
It seems that with every Brand New record, the band changes their sound drastically. Throughout the nearly 18 years of their existence, they've transformed from pop punk, to emotive rock, to post-hardcore, to experimental aggressive rock.
With "Science Fiction," the band takes another turn, while simultaneously retaining influence from every style and genre they’ve exercised. They very well may have perfected their art with Science Fiction.
The first track "Lit Me Up" certainly lets the listener know what to expect from the rest of the album: dark, bleak and somber sentiments. The album sounds ethereal and otherworldly, almost like a dream; the title “Science Fiction” is very fitting in this respect.
In fact, “Lit Me Up” opens with an audio recording of a psychiatric therapy patient recounting a bad dream. Right before the song descends into a droning hypnotic bassline, the patient says, “I think I’m going to be relieved when it’s over.” However, it won’t ever end -- a proper metaphor for the lead singer, Jesse Lacey’s, ongoing battle with depression."
The line may also be indicative of Lacey’s personal need for the band to end in 2018 and the need for a new chapter to start in his life. “It lit me up, and I burn from the inside out. Yeah, I burn like a witch in a Puritan town.”
If there’s one thing that Brand New hasn’t lost, it’s their ability to project imagery perfectly through their music.
As the ending of “Lit Me Up” dissipates, in comes “Can’t Get It Out,” a jarring shift in tone and atmosphere. The strumming of the acoustic guitar and the vocal whistle at the beginning of this track makes the listener feel as if they’re waking up from a dream and snapping back into reality with a catchy, hard-hitting track.
All twelve tracks on the record starkly contrast, though the album miraculously still flows smoothly.
The album can go from a dark, unsettling and introspective track such as “137,” which satirically discusses a love of nuclear warfare given its proposed inevitability, to an upbeat track that uses metaphor to equate video games to religious themes, in “Out of Mana.”
Then there’s the solely acoustic track, “Could Never Be Heaven,” which again carries a religious theme. Notably, this song discusses Lacey’s contempt for the Mormon belief that spouses aren’t married in heaven, as he is married to a Mormon woman.
With songs like this, Brand New proves that they can create emotionally sincere messages that still manage to intertwine complex thought and internal conflict.
The final track on the album “Batter Up” may very well be the final Brand New track ever released, and it truly delivers as a perfect eulogy. The song opens with a gloomy yet beautiful, subdued guitar line.
Lacey’s chants during the chorus of this song encapsulate the primary message of the record: “It’s never going to stop. Batter up. Give me your best shot.” This acceptance of the struggles of depression creates a hopeful and triumphant message from Lacey.
Over eight minutes long, the track’s ending descends into an ambient collection of sounds as the guitar line ends. We then hear the distant sound of thunder and the fall of rain, followed by a voice of a band member echoing the words “that was the one we were waiting for.”
It was also the record we, as Brand New fans, were waiting for. But just as the chorus of this track indicates, it's never going to stop. Even if this is their final record, Brand New will live on and continue to inspire the world of emo and indie rock.
5/5
Recommended tracks: “In the Water,” “Waste” and “Batter Up”