Format: Studio Album, Long Play (LP)
Genre: Punk, Pop Punk
Length: 46:02
Label: Reprise Records
Media Types: CD, Digital, Streaming, Vinyl
Release Date: Friday, January 19, 2024
After the catastrophic release of their previous album Father of All Motherfuckers, Green Day is a band with an out of date sound and a wounded reputation. While Revolution Radio had shown that they could still write engaging and socially conscious songs, the smaller scale of the album meant that some of the stench from their failed return to their roots trilogy Uno, Dos, and Tre still lingered. Father of All Motherfuckers made Revolution Radio seem like a fluke and further hurt the band’s appeal during this current time where Pop and Hip-Hop rule and Rock, Punk, Alternative, and Metal are no longer players on the world music stage.
Flash forward to now and the band is back after four years with a new album with a back to basics theme. Green Day desperately needed saviors but if no one was going to do it, they might as well do it themselves. In many ways, Saviors feels like what the trio albums should have been. High energy pop punk with catchy hooks and defiant lyrics. The more high concept political themes of Revolution Radio and the classic American Idiot are gone, and they are replaced with the template from their early work such as Insomniac and Dookie.
The fervent energy is very apparent in pop punk bangers like “Look Ma, No Brains” and “One Eyed Bastard” while the band’s more classic rock leanings from more recent albums influence tracks like “Bobby Sox” and “Coma City”. The social commentary isn’t completely gone, as songs such as the first single “The American Dream is Killing Me” and the standout “Living in the ‘20s” comment on more recent trends. However, regardless of what angle the songs take, the songwriting is tight, tried, and true Green Day.
However, this is a double edged sword. On one hand, there’s a lot of nostalgic tracks here that hit the spot for late 90s / early 2000s pop punk. If you’re looking for an album that can transport you back to the music of those times, this accomplishes that effectively. This is quality music in that vein from one of the original sources. For example, the closing track reminds me of Weezer’s “Only in Dreams”. However, nothing here reaches the greatest of classics like “Longview” or “Holiday”. In their attempts to recreate their original sound, they lose the freshness it originally had and completely skip any idea of originality. Not one song comes across as a strange experiment or a bold statement. In addition, many of the songs are lyrically overly simple and juvenile. I know that is by design, but they often lack the high energy of the musical performances.
Swinging back to the other end however, that also means this album is all killer with little filler. There are some tracks that I would call filler, such as “Suzie Chapstick”, and “1981” but even these tracks aren’t bad and are enjoyable to listen to. Nothing tends to go to extremes on this album. None of the highs are extraordinarily high and none of the lows are pitifully low. This results in an album that while enjoyable to listen to does little to give itself a significant identity. This can come across as yet another Green Day album that’s so within the band’s wheelhouse it fails to be anything else.
Saviors does a lot right to steer the band back in the right direction, but it is ultimately a safe release. Perhaps an album like this is necessary as Green Day were not in a strong place creatively but while this is a strong album and one that can be a decent introduction for a new audience to see why this band is such a revered act, Saviors is ultimately going to be the most appreciated by the band’s existing base. Perhaps now that this dog has relearned its old tricks, it might attempt to learn some new ones next time.
Hey Colorwind! 