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Ah the rituals of life. Sunday morning, head pounding from the night before, church bells ring in the distance, Sum 41 put out another album of average pop-punk. The world continues to turn on its axis and everyone's happy.
Yet there's undeniably been some kind of (gasp!) progress in the camp of these Canadian pop-punks since we last heard from them 18 months or so ago. While a good half of "Chuck" is more of the same old same old Offspring-lite bounce designed to appeal to hoodie-wearing 11-year-olds, there are a few times here where Sum 41 actually do attempt to break away from the punk-pop security blanket they seem to perennially be clinging to. On "The Bitter End" and "There's No Solution" they come across like a junior Metallica with some admirable fretwork from the two guitarists while "We're All To Blame" sees the band dipping a toe into more political waters (note that they've recently been hanging around with the "Rock Against Bush" crowd - could it be that they're finally starting to wise up a bit after all these years?)
"American Idiot" it most definitely is not but it's good to see Sum 41 willing to take a risk and try to break away from the essential genericness which unfortunately cripples a good half of this album. Hopefully this is the awkward gateway between their rather derivative past and a brighter and heavier future.
Rating: 6/10
Reviewed by Andy James
