![]() ![]() ![]() It’s Brand New’s longest and most daring album, and over twelve diverse and distinct songs, the band fight off their personal demons and exorcise them through music. However, working towards any form of all-encompassing, concise analysis of ‘ The Devil and God’ is an attempt steeped in futility. In the second verse, Lacey speaks fervently of love like a burning “ ember” in his chest, before reflecting on how dangerous blind faith can be if it’s not tempered with compassion (“ Burning out my centre till there's nothing but dust/Rolling me with care into your cigarette/'Cause the God I believe in never worked on a campaign trail.”). On the former, Lane’s ever-present, rolling snare and fluid high-hat drive the song from its core, sounding like The Killers on steroids, while Lacey throws down lyrical barbs laced with ideological rhetoric (“ Who do you carry that torch for, my young man?/Do you believe in anything?/Do you carry it around just to burn things down?”) The track also features one of the band’s best choruses, and shows the group aping their influences, like tour-mates and close friends mewithoutyou and Manchester Orchestra. Elvis’), tracks like the uplifting ‘ The Archer's Bows Have Broken’ and crowd-favourite ‘ Jesus Christ’, represent the band’s most overt foray into analysing crises of faith, a topic which once again revolves around the conflict and contrast present in the album’s title. Every time I look at it, I think of something new.”Īnd while Brand New and Lacey are certainly no strangers to religious allegory (see ‘ Seventy Time 7’ or ‘ Me Vs. I think it has a level of creepiness for sure, but it is a definite photograph that has an insight for everyone, and it makes people think. “The way she holds her arm and sleeve seem strange, almost like she does not know what’s round the corner. “I think the little girl is the scariest I feel the place of power resides with the two people in the mask, but the girl seemed oddly calm in that situation,” says Lacey, reflecting on the album’s visuals. In truth, this evocative image manages to speak volumes without requiring a single word: a young, distracted child, innocuously framed against white, weather-worn wood panels, contrasted beside sinister-looking, yet somehow jovial strangers, in front of a closed door, wearing dark cloaks and masks. In fact, Brand New would double-down on this level of commitment, releasing ‘ Devil and God’ with a cardboard cover that featured no track listings, and withheld the name of the band and album itself. ![]() It’s always surprising to us, as we don’t know how it’s going to sound until we’ve written a few songs.” In ways, I think this is a record apart from the last record, but there are still certain aspects that they have in common. "I don’t think that in our short recording career we have followed a path. Speaking to the BBC in 2007, shortly after releasing ‘ The Devil and God.’, Lacey references this notion directly, in regards to the band’s sonic transition between albums. In terms of development, Brand New was always a group that had unashamedly altered their sound from album to album, mirroring their own progression as human beings. Glory Fades’ and the dynamic ‘ The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows’. Brooding with angst, restrained aggression and delivering a more potent, nuanced alternative rock sound, ‘ Déjà.’ saw Brand New hit the mainstream with powerful singles like the sexually-charged ‘ Sic Transit Gloria. However, it was their sophomore follow-up in 2003’s ‘ Déjà Entendu’ which garnered critical acclaim for the band and rocketed them upwards on a meteoric path to breakout success. Understanding how the album’s cover artwork and release shaped the band’s future trajectory, alongside a detailed scrutiny of religious themes, lyrical hints and musical explorations, will, in turn, provide a resolution of the vast and grandiose scope of Brand New’s vision. To fully grasp the genius of ‘ The Devil and God.’, it becomes necessary to inspect the album from a multitude of angles – much like a Magic Eye puzzle which may deceive on first glance yet suddenly burst into focus after a long and intense gaze. A decade on from the album’s release in November 2006, ‘ Devil and God’ remains the band’s most popular, complex and rewarding release to date a record that has taken on an identity all its own: existing outside of the band’s reclusive nature, forever shrouded in mysticism, and continuing to expose hidden layers of meaning for both fans and newcomers alike. In this way, the third album from Long Island alternative rock act Brand New – ominously titled ‘ The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me’ – is a true classic. ![]()
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