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ALBUM REVIEW: "Makes Me Sick" by New Found Glory

   Pop punk is a term that unfortunately tends to turn me right off these days; not because I dislike the genre but simply because the majority of pop punk records that have been made in the last 5-10 years have all more or less sounded the same to me. This obviously isn't a hard and fast rule - I still maintain that it is possible to make a pop punk record that sounds exciting and fresh, and have been proven right on a number of occasions so far - but for the most part I struggle to get into most albums in this genre beyond the lead singles. Without wanting to turn this review into an essay about what is wrong with pop punk music (which could well still happen), a combination of flat drum mixes, whiny and over-produced vocal performances with little melodic interest, the exact same guitar tone and the same predictable song structures and riffs make for a generally stale genre that I rarely have much interest in. Which is a shame, because I know good things can be done in the genre without sticking to the annoying and out-of-date rule book that seems to be followed like the Bible by so many artists. 
   This new album from New Found Glory largely fails to separate itself from the vast number of albums that continue to do the same old things. If you love the genre and want to hear all these things, though, then I suspect you might enjoy Makes Me Sick, but I still feel even the fans might find this a little underwhelming. This is a shame considering the band's previous output, in particular the solid Resurrection three years ago which hinted at greater things than what we have on Makes Me Sick. I'm not going to be that guy and say that this album "makes me sick", it would be more accurate to say that it made me a little drowsy. What this album is is mood music; if you want something to throw on in the background and set a mood for when you have friends over or whatever, then I guess this might do the trick. And maybe that's what they were going for on this album, and if that is the case then credit to them they succeeded. But for someone like me that places music to the front of their mind when they're listening to it, I really struggled to find anything I cared for across its mercifully short 34 minute run time. Nothing was exciting, new, ear-catching or interesting, it all kind of washed together into a single, watered down song of lacklustre pop-punk sensibilities. It's albums like this that make it really hard to say I like pop punk in 2017.

   Favourite Song: Happy Being Miserable... I guess

   Least Favourite Songs: Party On Apocalypse, Blurred Vision, Say It Don't Spray It and Short & Sweet.

   Rating: eh


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