Can people from Florida really be Homesick?

The boys from Florida, A Day to Remember released their third studio album, Homesick,earlier this month on Victory Records.  This album features appearances from members of other bands, like producer Chad Gilbert of New Found Glory and Adam Dutkiewicz of Killswitch Engage, who mixed it.

The album opens up with a fantastic song and one of my favorites, "The Downfall of Us All," which will be the album's second single.  It starts with an a cappella-esque breakdown that leads to the rest of the song.  This song encompasses everything that I'm a sucker for in music-- hand-claps, good breakdowns, group vocals and a few whoa's.  The lyrics show that they have similar qualites to their last album, For Those Who Have Heart, with the constant reminder that their town and the people in it will bring them down in the end.

Another song that I keep on listening to is "Have Faith in Me."  The catchy chorus makes me want to sing along and I also enjoy the progression of energy throughout the song.  It's somewhat mellow at first, but things pick up after a while.  The song is more pop-oriented than the rest of their album, but it's somehow endearing.

With some favorites come some not-so-great songs, and that's what I heard in "NJ Legion Iced Tea," the album's first single.  I could pick at least two other songs that I could imagine to be better singles.  I can't pinpoint exactly what's off about this song, but something is missing.

"You Already Know What You Are" seems like a filler song more than anything.  I can almost imagine the band saying, "Okay, we need something short to help the album flow.  A minute and 28 seconds should do it, right?  Good."  Something's missing from the song.  It seems like it should have been longer than what it really is.

Most of the songs on this CD not only display the lyrical talents of lead singer Jeremy McKinnon, but also the rest of the band.  Drummer Alex Shellnutt has some amazing skills, especially on the double bass.  It's so fast, it sometimes makes you wonder how he does it.

As much as I like A Day to Remember, there are some little quirks that bother me.  First, their lyrics are mostly about the same subjects-- this town can only bring me down, you're not worth my time, I will prevail in the end, etc.  It's tolerable for the first few songs and even their previous album, but it starts to make me wonder if they have anything else in their lyric arsenal besides this. 

Also, after a while, some of their songs start sounding the same.  They almost follow a formula at times-- screaming, sing-y chorus, tough-guy breakdown, back to the chorus, and end it with a witty one-liner that people will end up putting as their Facebook status or somewhere else.  Add a pinch of group vocals and some hand-claps and there you have A Day to Remember song.

In the end, I do enjoy Homesick as a whole, but not as much as their previous album, For Those Who Have Heart.  It maybe because I listened to it more times that I would like to admit.  Who knows, but for some reason, Homesick doesn't have the feeling and sound that made me like the other album so much.  Granted, there are some songs that I absolutely love on their new album, but as a whole, it makes me want something more than what has been given to me.