Soundbites

Sum 41 “Chuck” Island Records

At first glance, the liner notes of Sum 41’s
“Chuck” appear to represent a band ready to step into
punk rock’s hallowed tradition of political criticism, from
the ’50s-style cartoon children drawn over missile schematics
to the ugly greens and reds violently splattered over everything.
But Green Day’s “American Idiot” already made
punk’s election-year statement, leaving “Chuck”
free to explore vastly more generic areas of protest and all-around
angst. With three albums and years of mainstream popularity behind
them, Sum 41 has become quite the polished studio band. The group
is at its best on songs like “Some Say” and
“Pieces,” well-composed alternative-rock songs that
wouldn’t be out of place on a future “The O.C.”
mix. Unfortunately, “Chuck” entertains far too many
metal and hard-core delusions, including the blandly riff-heavy
“The Bitter End” and “Angels With Dirty
Faces.” “No Reasons” just sounds awkward when it
merges a gruffly melodic pop-punk chorus with attempts at hard-core
shouting. The album has little cohesion beyond the choruses, which
are fast, uncomplicated and as interchangeable as Legos. If
experience has turned Sum 41 into a musically proficient unit, it
has seen their lyrics go from bad to worse. “I’m
slipping away/In every way/I can’t stay awake (and I
don’t know why)/I’m slipping away (and I don’t
know why),” sings Deryck Whibley in “Slipping
Away.” The words are almost ridiculous when laid over an
acoustic guitar and a string section, which might lend the song
some sincerity if it wasn’t both an obvious play at a spot on
that “The O.C.” mix and the precursor to
“I’m Not The One,” a heavy metal song as
predictable as it is hopelessly outdated. “Chuck”
doesn’t have one happy song on it, a fault for a band that
made its name on being goofy pop-punks. While being angry and
frustrated can certainly signify some artistic maturity, in this
case, it can just as easily represent a desire to expand the
band’s audience beyond pre-teen skate punks without having
anything meaningful to write about. For all of the imagery in the
liner notes, and even the real-life significance of the
album’s titular reference (“Chuck” is the U.N.
volunteer who saved the band members’ lives when fighting
broke out during their visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo),
the closest Whibley ever comes to saying anything specific is in
“We’re All To Blame.” In this song, he sings,
“Realize we spend our lives in a culture of fear/Stand to
salute and say thanks to the man of the year.” Sum 41
could’ve made a real statement if they’d followed this
up on the rest of the album with lyrics a little more meaningful
than “This constant pressure that keeps hanging over me/It
makes me feel so empty,” which could’ve been written by
any member of the pre-teen fan base that might actually buy this
album. “Chuck” is not a bad effort, and Sum 41 is one
of the more talented bands of what remains of the pop-punk boom.
The album is just far too uneven, unable to decide whether it wants
to follow in the footsteps of Blink-182 (“Open Your
Eyes”), Death Cab For Cutie (“Slipping Away”) or
faceless metal riffing. All three of these influences are covered
(in that order, no less) in the closing “88,” which
starts out with a genuinely beautiful verse and sentiment (“I
hope someday you have it all”) before frustratingly vanishing
in the face of another by-the-numbers pop-punk chorus. Save your
money: Rather than buy this album, spend $.99 on iTunes for
“Pieces” so you can sing along when it starts playing
during Ryan and Marissa’s next break-up. ““ David
Greenwald