Special: Ranking New Found Glory's "New Found Glory"

By the time this blog goes live New Found Glory's Self-Titled album will have officially turned 20 years old on September 26, 2020. This wasn't the album I discovered them on as I like most my age found them on the Sticks & Stones cycle but this album quickly became not just my favourite NFG album but among my favourite albums of all time.

12. Vegas

I'm not sure why Vegas is at the bottom of the list. Maybe it's the lack of instrumentation that sets it apart from the middle of the pack tracks or the lack of lyrics especially the three line chorus that doesn't amount to much.

11. Black And Blue

I've said before I'm a fan of the double chorus and New Found Glory pulls it off here and it's also one of the punkier tracks on the album so it seems like a recipe for success right? Eh not really. The execution isn't as great as it could be.

10. Eyesore

New Found Glory has a history of doing ballads on their records, however on their major label debut this is as close as they get with this mid tempo banger of a track. What holds it back though is it's unoriginality in the chorus.

9. Second To Last

Second To Last is yet another bop that gets held back as a result of following Hit Or Miss in the tracklist especially given the similarities in the opening riff. So although it doesn't hold a candle to the hit track it's still worthy of a place on this great album in the middle section of this list.

8. All About Her

The math might not work out here but I'm considering this the end of the back half of the record. If this was a tier list that's how it would work out so I'm doing it here. All About Her is a catchy hook filled song that is below top tier but still pretty damn good.

7. Boy Crazy

"Some girls are crazy" preach NFG. This was one of the first songs I fell in love with from this album and although it's fallen to the bottom of this tier in years that passed mostly due to the juvenile lyrics and the soft opening.

6. Dressed To Kill

One of only two singles released from this album back in the days when single pushes took months instead of a days or weeks push we see now. Dressed To Kill is a solid tune that gets pushed down the list due to the many gems buried on this list which are all fan favourites to this day. 

5. Sucker

This chorus is so so good. Maybe even the best on this record. It's a bouncy fun tune about young romance which as a 31 year old... I can't relate to but it's fun to think back on which is how the band feels I'm sure playing this song 20 years after it was written.

4. Sincerely Me

Ah! From a song about young love to a song about young love breaking up. Sincerely Me is a letter to an ex-lover about the heartbreak of them leaving while still being angry enough to not name them and signing it with a sincerely me.

3. Ballad For The Lost Romantics

Truer words have never been spoken as the opening salvo of this closing track on the self-titled album. "I've grown sick, I've gotten older" screams 2020 even though it was penned in the year 2020. This is also sadly the only song from the top 7 on this list that I haven't seen live.

2. Hit Or Miss

As soon as the circus-like opening riff hits you know you're in for a good time. Hit Or Miss was NFG's breakthrough that got them a fan base, it's also a re-recorded version from their first album and this version nearly makes the original impossible to listen to in comparison.

1. Better Off Dead

This is a thrashy banger of a track with a thumping guitar and bombastic drums leading the song through the punchy verses and the high energy chorus to boot. Track one not only kicks off this album but it also is the best track on this album.

Top 10 Countdown: September 26, 2020

10. The Used Ft. Mark Hoppus (blink-182) - The Lighthouse
Last week: 4.

9. jxdn - So What!
Last week: NEW!

8. Neck Deep - Sick Joke
Last week: 9.

7. Neck Deep - I Revolve (Around You)
Last week: 8.

6. Neck Deep - Fall
Last week: 1.

5. State Champs - Crying Out Loud
Last week: 5.

4. Broadside - Heavenly
Last week: 7.

3. New Found Glory - Stay Awhile
Last week: 6.

2. Knuckle Puck Ft. Derek Sanders (Mayday Parade) - Breathe
Last week: 3.

1. I Prevail Ft. Joyner Lucas - DOA
Last week: 2.

Special: The One And Only Ivan, Get Duked!, Justice League Dark: Apokolips War Mini-Reviews

The One And Only Ivan:

Synopsis: While trapped in a cage at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade, a gorilla named Ivan teams up with a caring elephant named Stella to piece together his mysterious past and hatch a cunning escape from their shared captivity.

My thoughts: Disney dips it's toes into the darker themes at play but fails to take advantage of it and instead simply brushes it off as a small component in the overall story arch where as if they focused on that as the main component it would have made the story a lot more compelling. The live action actors do a fantastic job of interacting with the CGI animals and the voice actors do well also. The emotional climax of the story pays off in a big way and have tissues nearby as you may require them. Not Disney's best offering but if Disney+ can shoot out quality like this even once a month the subscription is definitely worth it. 

Final verdict: 3.5 mall circuses out of 5.

Get Duked!:

Synopsis: Dean, Duncan and DJ Beatroot are teenage pals from Glasgow who embark on the character-building camping trip -- based on a real-life program -- known as the Duke of Edinburgh Award, where foraging, teamwork and orienteering are the order of the day. Eager to cut loose and smoke weed in the Scottish Highlands, the trio finds themselves paired with straight-laced Ian, a fellow camper determined to play by the rules. After veering off-path into remote farmland that's worlds away from their urban comfort zone, the boys find themselves hunted down by a shadowy force hell-bent on extinguishing their futures. From writer-director Ninian Doff comes an anarchic satire of generational politics, hip-hop loving farmers and hallucinogenic rabbit droppings that pits the youth of tomorrow against the status quo of yesterday.

My thoughts: The script is sound and the laughs and thrills are real. Get Duked! mostly suffers through acting problems due to it's inexperienced cast and a certain level of predictability involved in a supposedly off-the-wall bonkers movie.

Final verdict: 3 farmer parties out of 5.

Justice League Dark: Apokolips War:

Synopsis: The world's greatest Super Heroes square off once-and-for-all against the despotic Darkseid – with the fate of all humanity hanging in the balance – in Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, the next entry in the popular series of DC Universe Movies.

My thoughts: DC decided to make their own version of Infinity War and Endgame rolled up into one and it works. It's brutal, dark with lots of twists and turns. The negative was the obvious elephant in the room: DC just wanted an excuse to reboot the DC Animated Universe (or end it all together) so they fabricated this movie in order to do it, which is pretty bittersweet as I've enjoyed this incarnation that has spanned 15 main line titles since 2013 Flashpoint.

Final verdict:4 magic incantations out of 5.

Top 10 Countdown: September 19, 2020

 10. Machine Gun Kelly - My Bloody Valentine
Last week: 5.

9. Neck Deep - Sick Joke
Last week: NEW!

8. Neck Deep - I Revolve (Around You)
Last week: 9.

7. Broadside - Heavenly
Last week: 8.

6. New Found Glory - Stay Awhile
Last week: 7.

5.State Champs - Crying Out Loud
Last week: 6.

4. The Used Ft. Mark Hoppus (blink-182)
Last week: 1.

3. Knuckle Puck Ft. Derek Sanders (Mayday Parade) - Breathe
Last week: 4.

2. I Prevail Ft. Joyner Lucas - DOA
Last week: 3.

1. Neck Deep - Fall
Last week: 2.

Special: First Listen Thoughts: The Used "Heartwork", Boston Manor "Glue", No Pressure "No Pressure EP"

The Used - Heartwork

Label: Big Noise

Press release: “The new album plays on the emotions, the sincerity, and the vulnerability of the first record and In Love and Death, with a little bit of the flair from Lies for the Liars,” vocalist Bert McCracken said. “Standing in the streaming circle pit with Kesha and Halsey, the album is just as modern sounding. John Feldmann’s production is that professional. It sounds really good. Those are two really random examples, but I think if you listen to both of those records, the songs are all over the place: dance, pop, actual punk rock riffs and drums. I think music is so all over the place right now that The Used fits in perfectly.”

My thoughts: Say what you want about The Used but you definitely can't accuse them of being boring. Heartwork is all over the place tonally and although some songs (Big Wanna Be, Cathedral Bell) aren't really up my alley the juxtaposition with the really aggressive songs (Blow Me, Gravity's Rainbow) is fantastic when listening from front to back. The buried gem here is probably 1984 (Infinite Jest) for me but in any event Heartwork is worth your time.

Boston Manor - Glue

Label: Pure Noise Records

Press release: The band’s highly-anticipated third LP is due out on May 1 via Pure Noise, and sees the quintet questioning the world around them. “I want people to listen to it and feel something and think about things,” says frontman Henry Cox. “The aim of the whole record is to make people angry. It’s to make them go ‘Well, this pisses me off, how can I change it? What is one thing that I can personally do – that I can start doing today – to make a difference?’ Because we can do better than this. We just need to start.

My thoughts: Given the three songs I heard before listening to the full album I would've assumed BM was going softer but man did that shock me on track 2, 1's and 0's, nestled between two of the aforementioned singles it hit me like a punch to the jaw and it was fantastic. It then took until track 7 to get heavy again as BM have continued to evolve their post-grunge sound they created on their last full length. The back part of this album shines with Liquid (the last of the three tracks mentioned in the opening sentence) as well as tracks 8 - 10 are among the five best or so on Glue. 

No Pressure - No Pressure EP

Label: Self-Released

Press release: Adding to the seemingly never-ending list of side projects formed in the year of 2020 – aka the year musicians are all stuck at home not touring – The Story So Far’s Parker Cannon has just surprised fans with a brand new pop-punk EP under the moniker No Pressure. Yep! That’s right, after slowing things down with his main band, Cannon is back to his punk rock, blink-182-like roots with a brand new batch of songs.

My thoughts: I was lead to believe this was a hardcore project but it realyl is not. It's fast punk rock with Parker Cannon's signature vocals. It's pretty raw but given that this was likely recorded in a home studio within the last few months I will not hold it against them. Definitely worth a listen if you have 10 minutes (the short song lengths also added to the credence of the hardcore band).

Top 10 Countdown: September 12, 2020

10. Rarity - Leave It Alone
Last week: 10.

9. Neck Deep - I Revolve (Around You)
Last week: NEW!

8. Broadside - Heavenly
Last week: 9.

7. New Found Glory - Stay Awhile
Last week: 8.

6. State Champs - Crying Out Loud
Last week: 7.

5. Machine Gun Kelly - Bloody Valentine
Last week: 1.

4. Knuckle Puck Ft. Derek Sanders (Mayday Parade) - Breathe
Last week: 5.

3. I Prevail Ft. Joyner Lucas - DOA
Last week: 4.

2. Neck Deep - Fall
Last week: 3.

1. The Used Ft. Mark Hoppus (blink-182) - The Lighthouse
Last week: 1.

Top 10 Countdown: September 5, 2020

10. Rarity - Leave It Alone
Last week: NEW!

9. Broadside - Heavenly
Last week: 10.

8. New Found Glory - Stay Awhile
Last week: NEW!

7. State Champs - Crying Out Loud
Last week: 8.

6. Neck Deep - When You Know
Last week: 2.

5. Knuckle Puck Ft. Derek Sanders (Mayday Parade) - Breathe
Last week: 6.

4. I Prevail Ft. Joyner Lucas - DOA
Last week: 5.

3. Neck Deep - Fall
Last week: 4.

2. The Used Ft. Mark Hoppus (blink-182) - The Lighthouse
Last week: 3.

1. Machine Gun Kelly - Bloody Valentine
Last week: 1.