New Years Days - 'Unbreakable' Album Review

Tracklist:

1. Come For Me

2. Missunderstood

3. Skeletons

4. Unbreakable

5. Shut Up

6. Done With You

7. Poltergeist

8. Break My Body

9. Sorry Not Sorry

10. My Monsters

11.Nocturnal

12. I Survived

Well, this was a bloody brilliant surprise! Everything about this album smacks you square between the eyes from the start and doesn’t let go. Even the cover is bold and in your face – simple, effective and impactful – a mantra that seems to be hewn throughout the whole of this album.

I’d never listened to New Year’s Day before this album, and it’s safe to say I was incredibly impressed. They are a band who are clearly happy to blend all of their influences to create a sound that stands out – and stand out it does. With the elements of Industrial, Electronic and Heavy Metal expertly blended together, songs have huge variety within themselves, and the album itself is a varied slice of well-crafted music.

The second track “Missunderstood”, is a great example of this blend of music, going from soulful vocal lines over sparse accompaniment all the way to a headbanging chorus in no time at all – and while this is a great track, it’s not even one of my top tracks on the album!

For me, my top three tracks on the album all epitomise the variety and sheer enthusiasm that New Year’s Day bring to the entire album as a whole. The angry drum fuelled “Shut Up” is a future classic for sure, and “Break My Body” feels as if Linkin Park made an unholy pact with Rob Zombie to create a huge chorused anthem the likes of which no man had ever experienced.

And then there is 'Skeletons'. It’s unusual for a lead single to be my favourite track on an album in general – usually because the lead singles are picked to appeal to the broadest range of people possible, and that often doesn’t highlight the band at its best – but sometimes a lead single can perfectly encapsulate the album it comes from, and 'Skeletons' absolutely does that for me. With its harsh electric sounds, beautiful haunting vocals, a brilliant chorus build-up and then when the chorus itself drops, it is almost impossible to avoid singing along with it.

But now I feel that I’ve undersold other tracks on this album by highlighting the four I have mentioned – the bottom line is that there is not one filler track on this album. This is an absolutely brilliant album – buy it and enjoy it. If you are anything like me, it’ll be on repeat and you will be headbanging until your neck is so sore you have to rest!