Four Year Strong

Hailing from Worcester, Massachusetts, Four Year Strong fuse hardcore, emo pop, and pop-punk into a sound that balances raw aggression with strong melodic hooks. Throughout the mid-2000s the group cultivated a loyal following via relentless touring and a string of independent releases that paved the way for their 2007 album Rise or Die Trying. A more somber mood surfaced on the 2011 follow-up In Some Way, Shape, or Form, yet it was the self-titled fifth LP from 2015—widely praised by critics—that broadened their reach. After issuing reinterpretations of earlier songs, they opened the new decade with Brain Pain in 2020, then delivered a fresh recording of their 2010 album Enemy of the World in 2022 before unveiling the new collection Analysis Paralysis in 2024.

Although the musicians had previously worked together under another name, the definitive lineup of vocalist/guitarists Dan O’Connor and Alan Day, bassist Joe Weiss, drummer Jake Massucco, and synth player Josh Lyford locked into place in 2003 while the members were still students at Doherty Memorial High School. Drawing from Lifetime, Gorilla Biscuits, and New Found Glory, Four Year Strong refined their approach across two self-released EPs and the 2005 debut full-length It’s Our Time before landing a contract with New Jersey’s I Surrender Records. Their first release for the label, Rise or Die Trying, appeared in September 2007, after which extensive road work alongside the Starting Line, Valencia, and From First to Last occupied the rest of the year. At the close of 2009 they issued the covers album Explains It All, which gave way a year later to the original material on Enemy of the World.

The band then removed the keyboard element, shrinking to a four-piece and parting ways with Josh Lyford. In 2011 they entered the studio with producer David Bendeth to shape their fourth album, In Some Way, Shape, or Form, which surfaced late that year. The heavier direction surprised many listeners and delayed the next full-length for several years. Their 2014 Go Down in History EP was viewed as a partial return to earlier form. Nearly four years after their previous LP, the 2015 self-titled fifth album—now on California’s Pure Noise—climbed to number 77 on the Billboard Top 200. Two years afterward they released the reimagined collection Some of You Will Like This, Some of You Won’t and appeared on the 2018 Vans Warped Tour. Brain Pain arrived in 2020 as their first set of entirely new studio songs and was co-produced with Will Putney. Continuing that partnership, the band recorded a new version of Enemy of the World, which surfaced with updated artwork in 2022. Ahead of a national run with Story of the Year, Four Year Strong released the 2023 single “Dead End Friend,” which served as the opening track for the 2024 Putney-produced album Analysis Paralysis.