BRAND NEW - "SCIENCE FICTION" NEW ALBUM (2017)

The writing on the t-shirts was real: Brand New, one of the most transcendent rock bands of the new millennium are, for all intents and purposes, no longer with us. Please send flowers.To be fair, Jesse Lacey and company have been doing the danse macabre for most, if not all, of their 18-year lifespan, in the form of moribund lyrics and recurrent stylistic resets. At last, with the unexpected arrival of Science Fiction, Brand New’s fifth and final album, the quartet’s casket has been suddenly, spectacularly wheeled out on center stage. The record marks the victorious resolution of to the band’s eight-year stint in creative purgatory—the record’s been shelved, teased, and delayed too many times to count–as well as an end-of-days for their rabid fanbase, a large contingency of which remain terrified to confront it. Their trepidation is understandable. The only thing scarier than the apocalypse is witnessing the demise of a band that played such a formative role in people’s lives, only to walk away unsatisfied. Fear not: A stunning, sprawling sucker-punch of a finale equally amenable to die-hards and newcomers, Science Fiction is a worthy (if bittersweet) send-off to one of the most brutally honest, forward-thinking rock bands of the new millennium. Read More