I’d like to start this review with total honesty: up until several weeks ago, I knew NOTHING of New Found Glory short of “Catalyst, you insist to pull me down…” I only heard “My Friends Over You” a month or so ago. So I feel as though I’ve approached Not Without A Fight from a very unbiased standpoint. What a perfect way to do it too.
I think it’s safe to say I was missing out in not listening to New Found Glory all these years. Downloading this album lead me to download everything they’ve released prior to, without even listening to it. I couldn’t be happier with that decision. I’ve been stuck on Sticks & Stones whenever I’m not listening to this new one. Which should speak to all the old school NFG fans: this album is unquestionably a return to form for the band. They sound like the adolescent pop-punkers that they were so long ago all over again.
Compromises are made in order to reach that point, yes. Musically, there’s nothing special about this release in comparison with anything else that will come out this year. They’re all more well-rounded musicians than they were back in the day, but they certainly won’t blow your mind. Lyrically nothing stands out either, most of the songs actually come off as almost pretentiously immature, but that doesn’t significantly take away from the enjoyability (that’s not a word, I know) of Not Without a Fight.
Something about songs like “47” and “I’ll Never Love Again” really takes me by surprise. For the most part, the record feels really genuine. This is so odd because it’s also quite a blast into the past, something that usually fails horribly when attempted by other bands. The stand out from the album in my opinion is probably “Listen to Your Friends,” something I’m a little ashamed to say because it’s the lead off single. But it is a great song, definitely a stand out within their entire catalog at this point. A few others worth noting are certainly “47,” “Right Where We Left Off” which starts the album off on an almost hardcore note, and “Such a Mess.” But there are still songs like “Tangled Up” (which subtly features Hayley from Paramore *melts*), which I actually couldn’t stand upon initial listens, but with a few more it really grew on me. The thing about Not Without a Fight that tells me that it’s actually a really great album is the fact that I can skip around and listen to the songs individually and enjoy it, OR I can listen front-to-back, and still get the same satisfaction.
With this album, I have a little bit of faith restored in the pop-punk genre. As of late, things have gotten very cut-and-dry, and save for a few bands, I feel as though pop-punk is on its death bed. New Found Glory was not one of those bands until I heard this record. This is not the same synthesizer, handclap, and autotune heavy album that every other pop band can be expected to release this year. I only hope former fans of the band will accept this album, despite the mediocre previous two. Musically and vocally Not Without a Fight is a seven, vocally a six, but Mark Hoppus’ production is outstanding - by no means raw, but without being over-produced - he gets a nine. This is a great record from a band I never thought was all that great at all: Nine out of ten, definitely tell your friends about this one.
http://www.myspace.com/newfoundglory
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