Review Summary: Green Day tries to recycle the formula, but misses the mark.
Green Day reinvented themselves with American Idiot, a concept album that turned the most successful punk band of their generation into genuine rock stars. American Idiot was their crowning achievement, a critical and commercial success that defied comprehension. A band that once named an album Dookie was suddenly the biggest band in the world.
Five years later, Green Day is taking up the task of following their masterpiece. This is a daunting task for any band, let alone one who decides that the best way to move forward is to repeat the past.
"21st Century Breakdown", the first proper song on the album, opens unexpectedly, with acoustic guitars playing a very Who-like figure. It isn't long before the song kicks into gear, and we begin the journey through another punk-infused rock opera. The first thing you notice about 21st Century Breakdown is the length, eighteen songs clocking in at an hour and nine minutes. With the melodrama encased in a gritty, noir punk opera, demanding the listener's attention for that length of time makes the task of living up to expectations nearly impossible.
The band tries hard, throwing everything that have into the music. Acoustic guitars, punk breakdowns, piano and strings all swirl together to form the tapestry upon which the story is weaved. Hints of classic rock, British rock, and even shoegazer music can all be found scattered in the album's massive running time.
Several of the more ambitious compositions follow the same pattern, opening softly with clean and acoustic guitars, before building up to a crescendo of massive distortion. The ballads are tenderly constructed, the guitars delicate and understated. The punk songs, the ties to the band Green Day used to be, lack none of the furor of their youth. The frenzy is still present, but the band now knows how to control it.
21st Century Breakdown is the most mature album that Green Day has ever produces. Every second is professionally constructed and polished, given the album a confident assurance that no punk band has ever had. But in that maturity is a conundrum; while the songs are expertly crafted pieces of an artistic whole, the energy of a hungry band is sorely missed.
Every song on the album works to advance the story to its end. Each serves its purpose, and is an enjoyable flagstone paving the path Green Day is pointing us down. Where the album lacks is a direct result of this focus. The songs are so purpose-driven that they lack identity. American Idiot spawned hit singles that were as strong on their own as they were in the context of the album. This isn't true of 21st Century Breakdown. No song here is strong enough to stand alone in the way that "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" did, even if they tried and failed to rewrite it in "Restless Heart Syndrome". The most welcome moments on the entire album are the chorus of "The Static Age", and "American Eulogy", built from pieces of "Church on Sunday" and "Deadbeat Holiday" from their underrated and forgotten album, Warning, and. It is the only sign that Green Day still remembers that music can be fun.
21st Century Breakdown is a strident piece of music, and a fitting follow up to American Idiot. It doesn't live up to those heights, but very few bands are ever allowed two masterpieces. This is the new Green Day, and after exploding out of the gates, they are proving that there is still some life in their legs
