They say time robs us of our former selves. Brain Pain, the fifth dispatch from Four Year Strong, comes electrified by the tension between the struggle to hold on to past personas and the looming inevitability of having to let go. After more than 15 years in the game, their trademark blend of sunny pop-punk and grittier hardcore might be well-established, but here those two sides of their sound bristle with more symbolic significance: of the carefree kids they were, and of the burdened adults they’ve become. The titular Brain Pain is at the conceptual centre of everything. There are themes of confusion, depression and anxiety at play throughout, both on the macro and micro levels. Wryly-titled opening track It’s Cool bursts twitchily from an angelic chorus into the sort of angsty payo...
