New Found Glory has gone through many discrete transformations in their career.
If you listen to the early releases, such as ‘Nothing Gold Can Stay’ and ‘All About The Girls’, you’d think it was a completely different band compared to now. It obviously is, in terms of maturing and all that cliché, public relations nonsense that bands spew out with every new album, but NFG seemed to change dramatically in the run up to and after the departure of Steve Klein. The edge that kept the pop punk innovators above anyone who dare challenge their legacy was lacking in the albums that followed 2004’s Catalyst, where there was still the odd gem, but we didn’t get a no skip album after that. Since then, the band have gone through their battles, including Chad Gilbert’s ongoing battles with cancer which caused him to miss out on the UK tour recently.
It might be the touring with stand in guitarists from bands such as Four Year Strong, Real Friends, and Cartel that’s given the band fresh inspiration on the newest album ‘Listen Up!’
The title track ‘Boom Roasted’ gives us all the optimism that NFG are back in the form that we loved the most and it’s followed by ‘100%’ that just confirms that. Great riffs, catchy hooks and lyrics that make themselves at home in your brain for days. The thing that always made NFG great was that the original fans who are now pushing 40 – if not well over that line – can still unashamedly sing pop songs in the car and keep their punk credentials. Listen Up! maintains that privilege.
The gang vocals are strong throughout this album, something that has almost become a trademark of NFG, even though everyone and their dog in pop punk uses them. Something that NFG first drew from the hardcore scene that made them stand out. The same can be said about how Chad writes the riffs – big, chunky, and often darker than pop punk is used to. ‘A Love Song’ is a perfect example of the band getting a song to fit so perfectly between pop punk and hardcore – something that earned them the honour of being dubbed the founders of “easycore”. You can really hear that in this album.
if you were to blind listen to this release, you’d place it between Sticks and Stones and Catalyst. You get the fun – ‘Beer And Blood Stains’ being the perfect example of that – but also the angst and frustration that they’ve helped us get through for the last 30 years. This album brings New Found Glory back to the old glory days, and we’re happy to have them back!
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