New Found Glory return with their eighth studio album, ‘Resurrection’, and it’s an absolute belter. The newly focused four piece get right to the point with their opening track too, the previously premiered ‘Selfless’. It’s an anthemic pop-punk jam with a ridiculously catchy chorus and a really beefy guitar riff. Within three minutes they’ve quickly cast off any doubts about their relevancy in today’s alternative music scene here. The album then chugs on with the title track, ‘Resurrection’. It’s your average New Found Glory album track in truth. That’s certainly not a bad thing though – they’ve set the bar consistently high for the last seventeen years now. You’ve got an upbeat verse that blends into a harder hitting chorus with a memorable vocal melody. It’s a formula that clearly still works today.
From there ‘Resurrection’ treats you to a hefty combo of ‘The Worst Person’ and ‘Ready and Willing’. These are the crowning moments of the album and the two tracks we really hope feature in their live sets when they tour the UK. ‘The Worst Person’ has shades of ‘Catalyst’ in its delivery, whereas ‘Ready and Willing’ is a legitimate contender for pop-punk track of the year. ‘One More Round’ probably isn’t far behind either, but is a touch repetitive in it’s lyrics, and ‘Vicious Love’ would happily slot into the ‘Radiosurgery’ track listing without anyone batting an eyelid. There’s a slightly cheesy Lady and the Tramp lyric thrown in too for good measure, reminiscent of Jordan’s “You smell like how angels oughta smell” line from 2006’s ‘Coming Home’ album. It works well, but it’s the sort of line you’ll drop from your sing-a-longs if your friends are watching.
The second half of the album is a solid listen too, though perhaps missing that poignant stand out moment that earlier New Found Glory albums were prone to (we’re talking ‘The Story So Far’ from ‘Sticks & Stones’ or ‘The Ballad Of Lost Romantics’ on their self titled). ‘Angel’ lulls you in but quickly chugs into a chorus and the track plays out with far less of an impact.
On the other side of the coin is tracks like ‘Degenerate’ though, which opens with a bouncy and chunky guitar riff that’s got Chad Gilbert all over it. That shouldn’t surprise anyone, Chad has no doubt had a greater influence on the song writing these days and he seems far less focused on recreating his hardcore influences. There are hints of a heavier style, particularly during ‘Stubborn’, but it’s predominantly a up tempo pop-punk album.
‘Resurrection’ closes out with the fun ‘Living Hell’ and the fast ‘On My Own’. It’s a timely reminder that New Found Glory are still a band others should aspire to be. They write catchy three minute pop-punk tracks that a whole generation can still relate to. Welcome back, guys.
Phew…managed to get through the whole review without mentioning how terrible the artwork is…okay…we had to mention it at least once. Sorry.
TOM BECK