Review Summary: Sum 41 fail to pick up the pieces of the mess they made of Underclass Hero, and instead kick them away making them further away to pick up
It's a damning thought thinking that Sum 41 were once a very respected, sought-after punk band, expecially in the USA. All Killer No Filler, the revolutionary album that always comes to mind when Sum 41 are mentioned, is now just a memory as Screaming Bloody Murder comes into play. Because this is All Filler and definitely No Killer, despite what the title would tell you.
First things first, Sum 41 have lost their entire punk edge on this album. Fat Lip, In Too Deep and Motivation all had that riff, that drumline, that punk atmosphere. There's nothing on this album that suggests any of this. There's too much piano-led songs, too many pauses, breaks and not enough music. The lyrics are dreadful, especially in Crash (a soppy ballad which could have quite easily been avoided) and the theme of the album? There's no murder here.
The titles are misleading too: seeing Sick of Everyone on the tracklisting put pre-conceptions in my mind of what the track would be like, hopefully old-school S41. But no. Let down, almost greeted by Nickelback, or some band of that field. It's too over-produced, far too different and theres not enough here to keep the listener interested.
One positive about the album, and that is that the title track is actually very good. The song Screaming Bloody Murder, even though it has the stupid slow piano start, has a killer riff, a fast upbeat rhythym and I would have genuinely preferred this if it was a single. Overall, poor effort.
