“The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me” is Brand New’s third and latest album.
The lyrics to all of their songs are poetic and sharp. The album is pretty mellow the whole way through but still catches that upbeat sound in some songs.
It has been three years since Brand New released its last album, “Deja Entendu” in 2003.
The first time I listened to it, I was a little skeptical of how good it would be. However, after a few listens, it turned out to be pretty good. No wonder it took three years.
Their lyrics and the meaning of their songs have changed some since then. Their older stuff was more focused on love and ex-girlfriends with both mellow and upbeat rhythms.
The songs on “The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me” are more focused on life, death, and paranoia. They still touch on the old stuff, but they really step into a more mature sound with “Devil.” There are 12 songs on this album.
The guitar is perfect and the drums roll through each of the songs.
I think the best song on this album is “Jesus.” The lyrics are deep, and the beat just sucks you in. Jesse Lacey, Brand New’s lead singer, puts his heart in this song.
There are two acoustic songs on the album: “Welcome to Bangkok” and “Untitled.”
“Welcome to Bangkok” starts off fairly mellow and continues the whole way through but toward the end picks up a little.
“Untitled” is mellow the whole way through. “The Archer’s Bows are Broken,” the song after “Untitled,” jumps away from the mellow sounds into a punky upbeat sound.
The album finishes with the song “Handcuffs,” which falls right back to the mellow sound.
Overall, the album was good. The sounds of Brand New are there along with some brand new ones, so to speak.