Brand New: The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

On its major-label debut, this Long Island quartet keeps up the mildly nuanced emo sound trotted out on 2003's pretty good Deja Entendu: There's an eerie choir ("Degausser"), a power-pop facsimile ("Archers") and a ballad suaver and sexier than most emo slow jams ("Jesus Christ"). But the selling -- and sticking -- point is still dark drama, with shadowy, shimmery textures, agonized choruses and frontman Jesse Lacey yowling away and dropping ponderous poetry like a guy with his heart on his sleeve and a couple of philosophy books on his shelf. Brand New's attack can be action-packed, as the shredding "You Won't Know" proves, and unlike many of the group's peers, the soft parts aren't there just to set up the loud parts. But too much of The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me is just kind of heavy, and very so-so.