New Found Glory,
New Found GlorySince the commercial success of Blink 182, the number of MTV friendly pop-punk bands has shot through the roof. Most are piss-poor manufactured imitations, whilst others are good but unoriginal (stand up Fenix TX.) New Found Glory are part of the very few. The few Blink soundalikes that actually deserve the success for having a set of songs.
OK, they are nothing new. Ground-breaking they certainly are not, but NFG have that certain something. And boy, do they thump out some riffs.
Coming straight out of Coral Springs, Florida, this five-piece broke onto the scene with the 'Hit or Miss' single from their debut LP 'Nothing Gold Can Stay.' Heavy MTV rotation followed, and their EP 'From The Screen To Your Stereo,' has gained cult status, covering a number of popular movie themes.
But their self-titled second full-lengther could well break them into the real big leagues. Kicking off with the monstrously cool riffage of 'Better Off Dead,' NFG show real promise, and have a raw energy that you would assume would be missing from a major label release. However, re-releasing 'Hit Or Miss' certainly won't win over the punk purists, and there are some very obvious radio-friendly songs.
Another band from the 'girl broke my heart' school of writing, NFG won't win any awards for their words, but their attention to detail paints a very clear picture for the listener. It's very easy to empathise with many of the songs, in a sort of 'been there got the t-shirt' kinda way.
They do tend to stick to a fast, slow, faster, slower build up, and every song has a chorus which is catchier than syphilis. Being critical, at times NFG sound like a poor-man's MxPx (which is no bad thing).
Overall, NFG are good, if nothing new, but better than most of the crap that has saturated our tv screens and airwaves. This could be the record that breaks them big, and even if it doesn't it is still certainly worth a look.
Paul Savage
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