CD Review: New Found Glory - Radiosurgery
It’s inspirational to listen to a band who appear to have as much passion for what they do now as much as they do when they first started and it’s no surprise they’re as popular as they have always been.
New Found Glory. The name, for the twenty-somethings, will bring back happy, hazy memories of drunken teenage nights, unashamedly singing the bands popular songs My Friends Over You or Head On Collision at the top of their voices. For the more musically knowledged and experienced thirty-somethings, the band represent a change in pop-punk. They are a band who made, and still continue to make, a deep groove in the pop-punk genre; a band who, while citing their influences and making them all too clear at times, made a sound their own and opened doors for future bands. An example of a band who have cited New Found Glory as an influence, and who have made it is the hardcore band A Day To Remember. Lets not forget the teenagers of today, either. Especially the ones whore just starting to develop an ear for music. New Found Glory are sure to be a band who remain as popular with teenagers as theyve always been, and many songs from Radiosurgery are going to be the equivalent of what My Friends Over You and co. meant to teenagers back in the mid 2000s. While New Found Glorys sound is rooted in pop-punk, their blend of melody and breakdowns ensures that they have remained a band popular with hardcore fans and pop and punk fans at the same time. In a way, theyre a band who, with the unison of different genres, have united culturally and musically diverse people together. Go to one of their gigs and youll see what I mean. Since the bands inception in 1997, it has gone from strength to strength and has the made the band the monolith and mainstay of pop-punk that it is today. There isnt an album theyve released that hasnt fared well and, although, there are albums stronger than others, every album has produced a track or tracks that have been anthems. Their debut, Nothing Gold Can Stay, heralded the band as a promising, talented one to keep an eye on and 12 years after its release, it still holds up well and this just goes to show how good that album was. However, the albums that made the band their name were their self-titled album and Sticks and Stones. After these releases, the band were riding a massive wave of popularity and it was only fitting that Sticks and Stones was certified gold by the RIAA. Catalyst is another album worthy of a mention as it is arguably the bands most popular album it certainly is with the sales: 146,000 copies were sold in the first week of its release and it peaked at a career-high number 3 on the Billboard 200. Three other albums were released after this: Coming Home; Hits; and Not Without A Fight. Not Without A Fight was an intriguing release, as it marked a change in the bands sound. They sounded more mature but it wasnt a bad thing for the band to do. They showed that with time, maturity does indeed grow into a bands sound and the album was an overall success with critics and fans. So this brings us on to the bands new album: Radiosurgery. 
For the die-hards out there, youre sure to have heard the first single and title-track that was released on 2nd August. Its a great, fun, energetic start to the album: traditional New Found Glory shines through. On the basis of this track, Chad Gilbert (guitarist) was correct when he stated that Radiosurgery is the most upbeat, fun record weve ever recordedI wanted to go back to more of the roots of punk rock and pop punk and put a whole new NFG spin on it. The guitars are upbeat and fun; the vocals are easy to sing-a-long to and the lyrics are clever and easy to remember: Ive broken down / Im a nervous wreck / My heart is beating out of my chest / Nothing feels familiar at all to me. http://youtu.be/BNYgeSKu8gQ Ready, Aim, Fire! has a riff thats sure to get heads nodding and bodies moving and a drumbeat that is as rhythmical as it is solid. Jordan Pundik (vocalist) leads the way throughout the song, though, especially in the lyrics department again: Set this whole town on fire / Take you with me to watch it burn / Is this what you wanted? Look at what you started. Memories and Battle Scars is a faster-paced track with romantic connotations. Pundik tells the listener that I wanna kiss you so hard that your lips bleed / And I wanna hold you so tight that your ribs break / In the end well both know who we are / A body full of memories and battle scars. The riff and bass-line are what glue the song together, though, as the riff fluctuates under and over Pundiks vocals while the bass lays the platform for the frenetic drumming that is played so well by Cyrus Bolooki. This songs sure to be a hit with the romantics and the angst-torn among us. Map Of Your Body, the final track, is an apt finale. Even though its not the best track on the album, its solid and does the job of ending the album well as it has a feel of fun as much as any song on the album. This is most strongest halfway through the track when the up-tempo pop-punk stops to be replaced by a slower section where Pundik reminisces about times gone by. Itll be interesting to find out whether this song was written for someone, or about someone, as it definitely has a feeling of tribute to something or other. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FTb3dsG38c Radiosurgery is another quality release by a band who, it seems, arent affected by growing older. Its inspirational to listen to a band who appear to have as much passion for what they do now as much as they do when they first started and its no surprise theyre as popular as they have always been. From the first track, through until the final track, there isnt a song thats not well written. This is an album that is as good as anything the band has ever done. New Found Glory's new album Radiosurgery is out now!