ALBUM REVIEW: Four Year Strong – ‘analysis paralysis’

There are some people—some Four Year Strong fans, mainly—who could find themselves really put off by the first impressions of this one. First are the immediate aesthetics—the artwork is hideous in a way that only AI generation can achieve. Furthermore, the lower-case typography for everything, while less egregious, has never been associated with a typical Four Year Strong style of work, more with something trendier and often in a less-than-elegant way.

But to get to the meat of the matter, there will no doubt be a lot of discussion about the sound of this album. You’ll likely hear that it’s blockier and more impenetrable, and a fair bit removed from their usual burlier, masculine-coded pop-punk. And then there’ll be the parallels drawn to A Day To Remember, of whom Four Year Strong were once pitched as close counterparts, and who really found themselves nosedive on their own change in sound on You’re Welcome. Now, that’s entirely conjecture, no less because Four Year Strong have proven themselves in similar straits before. They had their ‘bad’ album (not really, but whatever) in 2011’s radio-rock pivot In Some Way, Shape, Or Form, and that was cleanly rectified by the succeeding self-titled in 2015 and Brain Pain in 2020. So surely that eases some doubt, right?

…well, maybe not, actually. On the first couple of listens, you might find that analysis paralysis does indeed seem like a bit of a letdown. The feel of a Four Year Strong album isn’t there, as that perfect distillation of easycore has been swept away with next to no resistance. And when you recognise that, you start to take note of the imperfections, wedged further by the apparent scramble for inspiration that came at the album’s genesis. There are muffled punch-ins on the already-thinner pop-punk of maybe it’s me; dead end friend seems to proudly display some crustier, crumbling edges; the tamped-down feel across STFIL is hard to escape. They’re all incongruities that a Four Year Strong album has never had before, and for reputationally a comfortable anchor in pop-punk’s uncertain seas, some hackles may be raised at just what this all is.

After a few more listens, though, analysis paralysis’ grower potential makes itself known in tremendous fashion. As it should, truthfully. Four Year Strong are a band who can already run rings around most pop-punk in longevity’s stakes, to where taking a bit of time to grow and properly get there can work in their favour. It’s especially true on the album that’s ageing out of pop-punk entirely, as their most squarely heavy album to date where borrowing from hardcore is apparent. daddy of mine was a bold lead single, but it’s arguably the best illustrator of analysis paralysis’ ethos, where a tone that’s always been decimating for its style is repainted to fit brazen, swing-for-the-fences hardcore, and can arguably work just as well.

What’s more, there’s a specific niche of hardcore that Four Year Strong are slotting into, as if to ramp up the market value on its own. Their finger is on the pulse of the current waves, the street-level bruisers filling out the Flatspot roster, and—most pertinently—the super-melodic punk difference-splitters epicentred just down the road from their New England doorstep. The results, by far, outweigh a more typical hardcore sidestep. bad habit, with its grunts and cinderblock riff, throws its weight around with near-perfect momentum; a little later, uncooked opens up with a yell of “I wanna see you dance!” and a jerky, cable-knit riff that’s a genuine Turnstile beat. At its best, analysis paralysis clears the exact excitement threshold that’s put hardcore in such rude health as if it were nothing.

That’s not to say the aforementioned issues and off quirks are remedied; they tend to slip through more than you’d like for a visage that can feel this rock-solid. That said, Four Year Strong aren’t the sort of band to get tangled in the weeds, nor would they devalue what a fat blast of riffage can do for them. A song like dead end friend could be insufferable in the wrong hands as another squealing slacker-rock malaise-a-thon, yet Four Year Strong have sheer force of will on their side. analysis paralysis takes pride in every decibel of volume it has, and thankfully in a seldom overbearing way. No, it’s more in a ‘this is what Four Year Strong are’ type of way, where the ten-tonne guitars and killer rhythm section are still the beating heart of the thing.

And you can acknowledge that while still putting this as a lateral move, at most. To be blunt, nothing on analysis paralysis will rival Four Year Strong’s best; it’s simply too different to. A lot of this is uncharted ground for them, which is partly why it can be disorienting on first impact. aftermath/afterthought is an opener that’s almost pitch-black with its industrial synth throbs and sledgehammer-on-stone guitar work, an aesthetic far-cry for any of Four Year Strong’s past body of work. Likewise, there are spots of lyrical bleakness all over the place, hardening a carapace over Dan O’Connor and Alan Day’s voices that had previously found their echelon of power through triumphant shout-alongs. We’re a long way from Go Down In History on this one, and Four Year Strong are diving into that unknown with total conviction.

It’s why it’s worth persevering with, at the end of the day, because for as rare as this pathway is in pop-punk, the results are nothing if not interesting. They often tend to be pretty good, too, as evidenced by work from Boston Manor and Trash Boat that Four Year Strong can now proudly stand amongst. Though, as a band that was always much heavier than their peers anyway, this almost feels like the step where the bridle is off. For Four Year Strong now, whatever measly restraints were once in place are gone, and regardless of the odd growing pain that might elicit, it’s a really exciting position to be in. Perhaps analysis paralysis is most enrapturing for what it could lead to than what it currently does, though that’s not to ignore what’s strong in its own right.

For fans of: Turnstile, Boston Manor, Speed

‘analysis paralysis’ by Four Year Strong is released on 9th August on Pure Noise Records.

Words by Luke Nuttall