Review Summary: Sum 41 return with an album that, while better than its predecessor, is still underwhelming.
It's been almost 4 years since sum 41 released the dreadful ‘Underclass Hero' and fans of the band would certainly be hoping that the Canadian quartet could regain at least some of the magic present on their older material. With the addition of a punk veteran such as Tom Thacker, and the fact that, songwriter/guitarist/vocalist, Deryck Whibley was to take on production duties all certainly seemed like signs in the right direction for the band. The good news is the album isn't quite as bad as 'Underclass Hero', but it's also not as good as 'DTLI' or 'AKNF' either.
The album does return to the edgier aggressive sound present on earlier releases on tracks such as 'Screaming Bloody Murder' and 'Reason To Believe' which, although has a completely unnecessary build-up, is still exactly what fans of the band want; gritty punk/pop that’s a blast to sing along to. The track 'Jessica Kills’ is also one of the best Sum 41 songs in a number of years, in fact apart from the My Chemical Romance-aping 'Skumfuk' the first half of the album is definitely a triumphant return to form.
However it all starts to go wrong from 'What Am I to Say?' onwards. 'Blood In My Eyes' is a song that tries to be a Green Day song but just doesn't have the same spark, 'Happiness Machine' is a song which simply is too long and meandering to deserve a place on the final album cut and it's at this point one wonders if the band would've been better off with a producer to reign them in. The other gripe i have with the album is the bands fetish for piano interludes and sickly sweet ballads. For me, a piano has no part to play on the title track, and Deryck Whibley's lyrics, which are at times no better than the scribbling’s of a c-grade English high school student, fail terribly without the support of power chord and thundering drums.
To finish the album is certainly a step in the right direction for the band and the first half of the album is certainly evidence that the band haven't lost the knack for penning fast, mosh pit worthy tunes. However, the album is too long, contains too many half-baked ideas and still has the same horrible notions of grandeur that suffocated 'Underclass Hero' for it to truly be considered a return to form. Maybe next time boys, we're all rooting for ya.
