Product Description

On 2006's THE DEVIL AND GOD ARE RAGING INSIDE ME, Brand Newcontinue the evolution that took them from the quaint punk-pop of their 2001 debut through the expanded indie rock textures of their 2003 follow-up. This isn't to say the New Yorkquartet have abandoned edgy rock, their knack for melody, or their emo-tinged aura, but rather that these elements havebeen sublimated into an aesthetic that favors sonic nuance and emotional intensity. A full quantum leap ahead of earlier efforts, THE DEVIL AND GOD ARE RAGING INSIDE ME shows Brand New growing well past the categories that once defined them.

Track Listing

1. Sowing Season (Yeah)
2. Millstone
3. Jesus Christ
4. Degausser
5. Limousine
6. You Won't Know
7. Welcome to Bangkok
8. Not the Sun
9. Luca
10. Untitled
11. Archers
12. Handcuffs
13. Luca (reprisal version) EXCLUSIVE UK BONUS TRACK

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #43227 in Music
• Released on: 2006-11-20
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

fight off your demons
Ok, first things first. I've never liked 'Your Favourite Weapon'. Barring a couple of nice lyrical touches, it never struck me as having much to differentiate itself from anything else within its genre, so when 'The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows' came out, followed by 'Deja Entendu', i couldn't believe it was the same band. I took to the album instantly and it was easily among my favourites of that year. Plus you have to admire any band that calls themselves Brand New and then titles their second album 'Already Heard'.

Anyway, to the present. The development of this band continues to astound me, and with 'The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me' they have separated themselves from any notions of 'scene' or the dreaded word 'emo' by making an artful, intelligent and experimental rock album that defies all expectations. Opening with 'Sowing Season', the effect is like Jesse Lacey stopped playing 'Play Crack The Sky' at the end of 'Deja Entendu' and simply started another song. Then the yell of 'Yeah' comes in and the transition between the two albums is complete. Whereas 'Deja Entendu' had a smooth, warm groove running through it that helped to sell the bitterness of some of the lyrics, this album pulls no such punches. The drums are huge throughout, the guitars move from soothing to jarring several times within one song, and running times stretch to 8 minutes. This is not intended be an easy listen, and the first run through the album is a little alienating but the layers of the songs come to the foreground in time, and it reveals itself to be a much more complete and coherent album than their previous efforts. It is difficult to separate individual outstanding tracks, but i would choose the somber 'Jesus', the early-REM-sounding 'Millstone' and the prog-infused 'Limousine' as personal high points.

Judging from the artwork and the inclusion of two instrumental tracks, the band have been listening to Godspeed You! Black Emperor and other members of the Constellation family, and it really serves to add an extra element to Brand New's burgeoning sound. As with the previous album, the lyrics are outstanding, with reflections on religion, uncertainty and death presented in a more mature way, with less of the sarcasm and humour that listeners have come to expect.

I have no hesitation to recommend this to anyone that has an interest in new music, if your taste inhabits a space anywhere between Tool and Nick Drake then i guarantee there will be something to love on this record. My only minor gripe with it is that you have to send $1 in order to receive a copy of the lyrics, it seems to be a cynical ploy that exploits the fact that so many people highlight the lyrics on a Brand New album.

Superb
For those reviews on here that see this album as a loss of form for Brand New compared to Deja Entendu, you are failing to allow the band to evolve and explore new ground.

This album has a wealth of emotional depth and is a deeply introspective work by Jessie Lacey - who is undoubtedly one of the most gifted songwriters of his generation. Tracks such as Jesus Christ and You Won't Know are brutally honest in their portrayal of lost love and loneliness.

Having seen the band live recently, Lacey sang with raw emotion leaving no doubt about the heartfelt nature of Brand New's music.

While the album does contain a number of brooding slow burners, there are still plenty of opportunities for them to rock out - such as the Archers Bows Have Broken, which is an infectious track complete with searing riffs and Lacey's emotive vocals.

Ignore the doubters: it deserves a place in your collection.

it's good, it's so good.
when i heard brand new were bringing out a new album, i wasn't too excited. there were a couple of songs i'd liked from 'deja entendu' (i'd really loved 'guernica' and 'tommy gun') but most of it i didn't think was that good. 'your favourite weapon' i thought was even worse.

so when brand new brought out 'devil and god', i downloaded the first track i could find and had a listen, but didn't really expect much. that was 'sowing season'. it blew me away, the lyrical content, the chorus - everything. i moved on to 'jesus christ', 'archers' and 'handcuffs' (the easiest songs to get into on the album) but when i first heard the others, i didn't like them. over a couple of months, i somehow got them all, kept listening, and now i honestly think 'the devil and god is raging inside me' is one of the best albums out there. beautifully consistent, lyrically charged and filled with dark emotion that just won't quit, i can't even tell you how glad i am that i found this. every time i listen to it, it just gets better and better.

i'll go through the songs one by one (though words can only say so much):

'sowing season': claustrophobic, honest, and fantastically produced. the 'YEAH' chorus is proper head banging stuff, and the lyrics relate to a million litarary and emotional sources (including rudyard kipling's 'If'). you want to listen to it over and over again, cry to it, break down to it, or just use to keep going. it's easy to get into, it's beautiful, i wouldn't say it's the greatest song on the album 'cause they're all so different, but it's the one i play the most.
'I'm NOT your friend. i'm NOT your lover. i'm NOT your family. YEAH.' - legendary.

'degausser': i found this song incredibly hard to get into, it doesn't grow on you fast. after you play it fifteen times though, you'll never go back. lyrically, i think it's the best song on the album - i've found myself writing the lyrics on random bits of paper, all over my myspace, my blackberry, everything. there's something incredibly, darkly sensual about it - it might seem common and unsuccessful at first, but believe me, by the end it'll be in your top three favourites.
'Goodbye to love.....Well it's alright, i'll push you up, right agaisnt the wall.........' it's not happy, but it makes unhappiness beautiful. the whole album does that, acually.

'millstone': this isn't so hard to get into, but i wouldn't say it's as rewarding as 'degausser'. it's good, it's really good, and if it was by any other band i'd say it was amazing. but because it's brand new, it's not the best track here. it's about being choked by your past, by everything you've become, the lyrics are universally applicable and far more specific than any other song.
'I used to know the name of every person i kissed, now i've made this bed and i can't fall asleep in it'

'you won't know': i didn't like it the first few times i played it. i liked a chorusy bit at the end that burst into an angry 'You're talking smack, you're a heart attack, but you're the apple of my eye anyway', and the rest of it has totally grown on me. it starts off quiet as hell, but bursts into angry tones that just won't quit. the lyrics are really good, but like every other song, they're not ABOUT anything specific. they're about anything and everything, applicable to a lot of dark situations, though this one has a lot of references to death. again, i can't explain to you how good it is, you'll have to go and listen.
'so pray, little kay, love is just god on a good day. and you can't blame your mother, she's trying not to see you as her worst mistake. and i wish that i could tell you, right now, i love you, but it looks like i won't be around, so you won't know'

'jesus christ': the fans' favourite, easy to get into, the most ballad-like, and though it's dark, there's hope here, too. 'Jesus Christ, that's a pretty face....' the lyrics are sad little feelings that everybody feels, though when they're on paper they just sound angsty. it's an honest, beautiful, simple song. if you want to get a taste for this album without experiencing the whole thing, listen to this and 'sowing season'. it's very good, but it's not the pure brilliance you can find elsewhere on this album.

'Not the sun': its the only song on the album that projects the same sort of emotions as another, 'you won't know', though they sound different. it's heartfelt, frustrated, and works perfectly with all the other tracks. i don't think it's anyone's favourite, but i wouldn't say it's not good. 'Say you're my friend, but why won't you be my family??'

'limousine': epic, seven-minute brilliance, a little like 'degausser' in that way. also very hard to get into. sounds pathetic at first, drab, feeble, but once you listen to it, you realize it just seeps with pain. its about a real-life seven-year-old child who was killed coming back from a wedding by a drunk-driver, though you wouldn't know it unless you looked it up. i sing this in the shower, the lyrics mean so much to me. it's not immediately beautiful by any means, and repetitive (though it gets deeper, darker and more painful every time the two main lines are repeated) but once you realize how amazing it is, you'll never let it go.
'You're so free....Yeah, you were right about me. Can i get myself out from underneath, this guilt that will crush me, and in the choir, i saw a sad messiah, he was bored and tired of my laments, said 'I died for you one time but never again' '

'luca': the song i like least on this album, though i still play it, like it and sing it all the time. for me, it just has less lyrical meaning that the other songs on this beautiful album. again, it's not easy or particularly hard to get into, not rewarding or unrewarding, but it's not bland. it deserves to be on this album, just not to get top marks. 'So touch me or don't........just let me know, where you've been'

'archers': i would say it's most like anything on 'deja entendu'. it doesn't seep brilliance like 'degausser' and 'limousine', but it's punchy, emotional and easy to love. it's fairly lyrically powerful and it's not as dark as everything else on here, and originally i really liked it. it got old pretty quick, though....it's nice, it's very good, but there's no staying power for the song (maybe the lyrics, though).

'handcuffs': i like it, i don't love it. it's claustrophobic, dark and quietly painful, easy to get into. some people say it's their favourite, and lyrically amazing. the instrumental part behind the singing is better than the singing itself, particularly the violin, and the lyrics have meaning, but you don't feel the pain like on most of the songs on this album.

'welcome to bangkok' and 'untitled' - both basically instrumental, both good, but i'm not too big on instrumental stuff, and i won't fully review them. i do like 'welcome to bangkok' more than 'untitled', though, and it sounds like a lot of the songs without the words.

i liked this album so much that i downloaded all the demos that were accidentally released in january, before the album was officially released. the demoes are badly produced and some of them sound a lot like their better counterparts on 'devil and god', but some of them are just about as good as this album: 'demo #5', 'demo #4' and (less good but worth a listen if you like 'devil and god') 'demo #7.'

in conclusion: buy this album. if you have a deep appreciation for music other than bubblegum pop and can see past the emo tag (which this album is definately not), if you're going through a hard time or just want to see the beauty in breakdown, or hell, just want to hear some very good music, get this album.