Brand New
The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me
Interscope/Universal


It's been three long years since Brand New delivered their brilliant 'Deja Entendu', an emo-rock masterpiece that can proudly call itself my favourite ever record. The result of that painfully extensive hiatus is the major label debut, 'The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me', or, as the sleeve denotes, "Various recordings Mar. 2005 - Apr. 2006." The lengthy recording process can be felt pervasively across every second of the disc, as frontman Jesse Lacey bares his soul across an album that is far darker, more brooding, more grandiose and complex and, ultimately, more heart-wrenchingly tragic than 'Deja Entendu'.

It's breathtaking stuff; the opener, single Sowing Season, sent me reeling as its chorus punched out of an introspective verse and through the back of my head, while the restrained, sorrowful Jesus is the most beautiful track the band has ever penned. The album has a more conceptual feel then ''Deja' as Lacey less muses and more allows his mind to fall apart through music, dissecting his religious crisis and its violent confrontation with his fear of death. Lyrically, he avoids the sharp poetic acrobatics of ''Deja' but remains even more cryptic - the album is somehow perfectly summed up in the shiver-inducing chant that anchors highlight Degausser: "Take apart your head! Take apart the demon up in the attic to the left!" Sonically, the band explore much heavier, prog-influenced ground, chalking up complex rhythms and moody production that recall Matchbook Romance's latest, 'Voices.' But, while that record sounded like an amateurish rehashing of influences, 'The Devil And God...', while markedly different to their previous work, still sounds effortlessly like Brand New - and herein lies its charm.

As a whole, it's not as completely perfect as 'Deja Entendu' was - the first half of the album is much better than the second and the two instrumental tracks reek distinctly of atmospheric filler - but the fact that Brand New managed to not only live up to my lofty, wait-fuelled expectations, but indeed to shatter them, leaves me with no doubt that this is the best emo album of 2006 and one of the most intensely affecting rock albums of the year.

Matt Vesely