NEW FOUND GLORY

"CATALYST"

Review Date: 06/27/04

Rating: 6/10

Rewiewed By: suj

I've been listening to NFG off and on for quite sometime now. From their absolute brilliant "Nothing Gold to Stay" to the pop-filled "Self-titled" and to the rejuvenated "Sticks and Stones", but in due time much like all bands in this genre (pop-punk) there songs become redundant and quickly fade into a memory. So, by the time the bands third studio release "Catalyst" was being recorded and gaining the much talked about hype of being more "harder" I found myself not really interested in this band and what they have to say simply for the fact that I kinda grew out of them. Their CD's rested in the dusty corner of my rack behind the likes Sum 41's "all killer no filler" and Not By Choices' "Maybe One Day" (I have no idea why I bought that album, I should burn it). So when the first single "All Down Hill From Here" made its debut on air waves a little spark ignited my interest into this band once again. The song was different, more faster, better lyrics, and fantastic breaks. With that I decided to check out "Catalyst" to see if NFG still has the stuff that made them so appealing.

By now everyone should know what NFG sounds like: the whiny vocals, the heartbreak lyrical themes, and the insane catchy beats that have the ability to keep you moving. So does "Catalyst" follow suit with the signature NFG sound? Yes with a little touch of edge, if you will.

The albums begins with 37 seconds of pure adrenaline rush then proceeds to the first single "All Down Hill From Here" and Like I said before this song is great it showed more depth and growth. The second track"This Disaster" opens with a few metalish guitar riffs as Jordan's vocals hit the air and the song continues in typical NFG fashion. The chorus is jumping and you can't help bobbing you head to it. As the song ends we move into "Truth of My Youth" a mellow track with fast spoken/sung vocals which are a nice touch. The verses are sped through at warp speed, and then the chorus slows to a mid tempo pace and just drills itself into your head. Next up is "I Don't Wanna Know" a much different NFG song then were all a costumed to. Its slow, its acoustic, it’s a ballad with lovely romantic strings. This is a good song, but I just can't help envisioning the likes of Simple Plan and Good Charlotte singing this song. But the one thing that sets this song apart from those suck-filled acts mentioned, is the lyrics...Steve Klein is a master at these types of songs.

Now, the next track is something I really enjoyed as it reminded of one of the best or if not the best song off of "Sticks and Stones" called "Singled Out" with its electro-pop sort of intro. The song "Your Biggest Mistake" swarms you like gang and pounds you to a bloody pulp to sing along. With a super-catchy chorus and a fucking cool break with Klein and Gilbert dueling away on their axe's, this song is a memorable one. "Doubt Full" is moody as heard in the crunchy sound the guitars make. Its an okay song, but nothing to write home about. "Failure's Not Flattering" is one of my favorite tracks off of this record for the simple fact that its just uberly-cool. It has nice melodic synths, catchy lyrics, nicely smooth vocals, its basically a song that will find you in the heart of summer running off in your backyard, taking your clothes off, turning on the sprinklers, and dancing away as freaked out neighbors say to themselves "what the fuck is wrong with that kid?"

Track number 9 "Over the Head, Below the Knees" opens with the line "you must not have a heart, nothing in your chest" - its dark, hard, an on the edge type of song with brooding guitars and Jordans vibrate vocals, but the song itself is utterly forgettable. "Ending in Tragedy" opens with the solemn sound of strings and a slow and melodic hum as Jordan beings to spew out some soft sung lyrics. Another slow balled with a strong chorus which rushes back to the calm mood it possessed in the songs intro. Next we get "At Least I'm Known For Something" which hits with thundering guitar riffs. This is a straight-forward song which would serve as great song for concerts as it has the obvious parts for crowd participation. "I'd Kill To Fall Asleep", rocks out with another one of those ever nifty intro things with Jordan backed by a piano spitting out the words "don't say its will stay this way forever" then a barrage of drums, bass, and guitars make waves to the speaker and proceeds to rock out with the occasional slow down. Then we get "No News is Good News" a great song that preaches about this deluded world of ours and how materialistic we all are. Finally we get to albums end, I loved the closer off the last album "The story so far" and well here on this disc they matched it with the perfect smoothing "Who Am I".

Sure NFG are kinda one-note with the exception that once in awhile they unleash something which surprises us all, unfortunately "Catalyst" is not quite that surprise. It’s a decent album and i did enjoy in small doses but in the long run only half of the songs spoke out to me and rekindled my joy in NFG. I just can't help to feel that there was something missing I'm not sure exactly what, but there was something.