New Found Glory – Resurrection
Review by Bridjet Mendyuk
Practice your head nods and stretch your limbs out kids, this isn’t your average New Found Glory album. Whether you’re a fan of one NFG album or all of them, Resurrection has something for everyone. Ever since the band dropped rhythm guitarist Steve Klein in 2013, the group has been working on Resurrection, which singer Jordan Pundik explained in an interview, the making of this record “re-sparked” the band.
New Found Glory’s eighth studio album, Resurrection, released via Hopeless Records holds true to the band’s pop punk roots while mixing in heavy riffs the previous albums have lacked.
The first single off the record, “Selfless,” was released in August and it definitely shows NFG are back in action and ready to jump back into the scene feet first. The lyrics, “I want to live selfless/I can catch up on my sleep when I die,” show the group as rejuvenated, and in a way as they always have been, a bunch of kids who just want to jam with their friends. A perfect single to commence the album.
Ever since 1997, the lineup of the powerhouse pop punk kings has remained unchanged. Yet, after the group went on temporary hiatus after their last album, Radiosurgery, which was released in 2011, a series of unfortunate events caused the group to let Klein go citing “personal differences.” With Klein gone, the band had to leave the songwriting in different hands, which you can tell with Resurrection. Call it the elephant in the room, but some of the best songs off Resurrection seem to have fans questioning whether or not they were written about Klein. The song “The Worst Person” starts off with, “you were only giving half the truth/loving attention, playing a victim/the whole time you were abusing/the ones you loved.” If the intro wasn’t enough, the chorus goes on with the first two bars being, “you might be the worst person I’ve ever met/I’ve ever known.” Ouch.
The second single and music video released off the album before it’s debut was “Ready and Willing,” which premiered in September. The upbeat single shows the group getting into boyband scenarios like escaping screaming girls, signing contracts and getting into trouble with their manager as they parade across the globe doing, well, whatever. NFG hired four look-a-likes to play them as kids. This song explains the charisma the band had when they were younger and shows fans they’re still ready and willing to take on the world still. The lyrics, “when my back goes out, I’ll know I did it all/and have stories to tell/when my eyes go bad, I’ll know I’ve seen it all,” are words fans should take to heart; NFG are in it for the long haul.
Another highlight off the album is “Vicious Love,” which has heavy guitar breaks and should remind fans of NFG’s first couple of records since it seems to be about the most pop punk thing since pizza; girls. The chorus, “we’ve got a vicious love/we mix our tears with blood/no clock will stop for us/it ticks by/we fight as hard as we love,” is the catchiest chorus off the album.
All in all, Resurrection was worth the wait. The age old theory of bands never putting out music that is as good as their first couple of albums doesn’t apply to New Found Glory, and if it did, give Resurrection a listen and put the notion to bed. This record represents the “new and improved” New Found Glory and fans should be excited more than ever to see what’s next.
Overall Rating: 4.5/5
Recommended Tracks: “Ready and Willing” and “Vicious Love”
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