Brand New Band • Page 393

Witty.

 

I wish At the Bottom album version was the one from the Daisy Sessions. I prefer that version to the one that actually made the album.

 

What a gloriously perfect fall day to be blasting Devil and God

 

Some Devil and God heavy live shows I've been tweeting today, for your listening pleasure:

 

(...because Instagram kills formatting)

Faith juxtaposed with doubt, life with death, light with dark.

On the 10th anniversary of The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me, I'm drawn to reflect on its impact, not merely on music or its genre, but on myself. Suffice it to say, to articulate its influence is no small feat, but worth an attempt regardless.

A decade of singing along, tapping my fingers on the steering wheel on long drives or putting on my best pair of headphones and listening uninterrupted in a dark room, I've listened to this album more than any other. The count of which would be impossible to measure, but I would reckon that I have spun its twelve tracks from front to back at least a thousand times, and that's an extremely modest guess.

The album has only gotten better with age. The songs have grown with me, and lyrical interpretation has evolved naturally as I experienced its themes firsthand, and with experience a decade of my life has an anthem for every difficulty.

At age 17, I was grappling with all of the themes represented in the album, but central to the album's ability to hook me was the prominence of faith and doubt contending for the hearts and minds of its musicians. For me, I subjectively asked, in their raging inside me, "who was winning?"

At age 27, I can answer, "God."

Thank you Brand New, for writing and creating everything that this album is to me and to countless others. Your mastery of the craft cannot be overstated, and music will not look the same when your end comes in 2018.

 

BEFORE ITS COMING TO AN END YEAHHHHHH

 

A reflective essay on what the album means 10 years later and why it still hits hard.

The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me: Brand New’s gem holds up a decade later

 

This album means more to me than any other piece of music out there. I am eternally thankful for it. I will absolutely be listening in celebration tonight.

 

This record is one of my all time favourites. Perfection.

 

the only song on the Daisy Sessions i feel that way about is Bought A Bride, but not that I like it better as much as I think it'd sound cool if it was still stripped down but also had the screaming

 

Space cadet pull out or space cadet pull up?

 

I hear pull out, as in pull out of a mission or smth but that's just me

 

ive always thought pull out

 

i've NEVER thought pull out.

and that kids, is how i met your mother.

i'm so sorry

 

also, has this article been posted? there's a lot of pages that i haven't been able to sort through

 

thanks for posting that, looks interesting!

 

Yeah thanks for sharing this!

 

Here's what I wrote about the album on FB earlier. Side note: I wish I could find those pics I uploaded on AP.net of me with the album cover in my 80's-style bathroom with horrendous wallpaper. And yes, I had the album before it was even uploaded to Oink. I remember being conflicted on uploading it, as I knew it would significantly help my ratio, but decided someone else should.


Another year, another classic album turning 10. Today, it's Brand New's "The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me". This album struck a necessary chord in a time of my life that still resonates well with me today. I'd definitely rate it as my 2nd favorite album ever.

I'll never forget the fact that I was one of the first in the world (to my knowledge) to hear it. I stumbled into my local Walmart (middle of nowhere NC) and was stunned to find this album just casually sitting on the shelf. The release date was slated for the following Tuesday, but I got it on the 17th. Having an album a full four days before most of the world (and the internet for that matter) was a special feeling I'll never forget. I recall having to post pictures of the album cover and the liner notes on Absolutepunk.net to prove I had it. *Cue internet jealousy*

From the opening strums of "Sowing Season" to the cacophonous roar of "You Won't Know", and the hauntingly morbid lyrics of "Handcuffs", this album transcended the definition of "emo" and jolted the music industry to rethink just what type of band Brand New was. While many albums have come and gone from my tastes, this one has always stuck with me. I'll listen to it anytime, but Fall is the perfect time for it. The themes of abuse, death, religion, and the afterlife were some things I was struggling with at that time, though not nearly to the extent that they did for Jesse Lacey and his bandmates. "Limousine" was written in multiple perspectives of the accident of a seven-year-old girl killed by a drunk driver hours after serving as a flower girl in her aunt’s wedding. Yeah... this album dealt with some VERY dark subject matter. In terms of favorite songs, "Jesus" and "You Won't Know" are 1 & 2, while "Degausser" is a close 3rd. As someone who has very conflicting thoughts about God and religion, the lyrics of "Jesus" spoke to me in a way that no other song had before and no song has matched it since. Even the cover of the album makes the listener feel nervous and uneasy.

I finally got to see Brand New for the first time live this summer, and it was an almost out-of-body experience for me. Their live energy is incredible and I'm definitely making it a point to see them again before they call it quits in 2018. You want to experience a band that gets you to feel something you haven't before? Go see them. If you've never heard of them before, give them a listen (though you're better off starting at "Deja Entendu" and then listening to "TDAGARIM" next.

I'm wearing a shirt of the band's today in honor of this landmark album.

 

Yo does anyone have the video of Jesse recording the vocals for Sink?

 

I can't believe Devil and God came out ten years ago. Still holds up.

 

What a record. Not much else I can say. It's like, actually a masterpiece. But we all know that here.

Was happy to sit down with it today and give it a full proper listen.. been a while. Wish I caught one of the album shows!

 

I remember seeing them a couple months before it came out, they played a few new songs and you could just tell we were in store for something amazing.

 

i will be discussing this album in a lot of detail tomorrow on my podcast, we're doing a special episode for the 10 year. i will also be tying in the many parallels i see between this album and a city by the light divided, which also turned 10 this year and is my other favorite album of all time