Category: | Review - Internet | Publish date: | |
Source: | Mark Prindle Record Reviews (United States) | ||
Synopsis: |
7 / 10
This is where Mr. Brett quit to run Epitaph full-time, so Greg Graffin had to handle pretty much all the songwriting by himself for the next three records, with a tad of input from new guitarist Brian Baker (formerly of Minor Threat, Dag Nasty, and The Meatmen). This is no problem in regard to lyrics; Greg's brighter than a thousand suns in that department. The problem is that most of the melodies simply aren't up to par. If you insist on making your music this simple, you gotta remember to make it catchy, too. Otherwise, why should people waste valuable time and money on it, hey? I mean, you got a few total kickassers like the title track, "Nobody Listens," and "Come Join Us," sure, but you also got slow yawners like "Pity The Dead" and "Punk Rock Song" (which isn't), recycled melodies from yesteryear like "Parallel" and "Cease," and total crap like "Ten In 2010" and "Empty Causes." And who needs that, hah? Me???? No! Not me! Some other guy, maybe!!!
Sigh. Yeah, it sounds like Bad Religion, and yeah, it's pretty much a rip-off of the last album, but a man like Graffin simply should not be called upon to write 40 full minutes of music. He's been at it for a long time; how many more decent three-chord melodies can he be expected to write? I forgive him. But I doubt I'll ever listen to this record again. Why waste the time when I could be listening to Against The Grain over and over again?
- Mark Prindle