Modern Minstrels

Coming Home

Oh, New Found Glory, where to start. If you know me at all, you know the special place NFG holds in my music world. Their first full length, Nothing Gold Can Stay, is what got me into this whole scene, and as such is held on quite a high pedestal. None of New Found Glory's album's since then can touch that album (though their self-titled follow up comes as close as any). And honestly, I've liked each new album just a bit less than the previous one.

So, how does their newest release, Coming Home, fit in? Unfortunately, it continues the trend (perhaps a little too much). My first experience with anything from the album was the release of the single It's Not You Fault. I liked the sound of the song, but the lyrics left a bit to be desired (which I would come to find would be my feelings about the album as a whole). Then I had my first listen to the entire album on their PureVolume page a few days before its release. A few songs stood out as being quite good (Coming Home and Familiar Landscapes in particular), but in general I was pretty disappointed.

However, I wasn't ready to write the album off completely, as Mike did. I still picked it up the week of its release, and have given it a number of listens since. And I have to say it's slowly been growing on me. Jordan sounds fantastic on this album and I like the variety of instruments used in the songs. As for other songs that have caught my attention besides the two mentioned above: There's something irresistibly catchy about Hold My Hand, despite it's simple lyrics and When I Die is a touching tribute to Chad's dad. I also really like Golden, which is a b-side from the Japanese release.

Unfortunately though, I still have to say this is definitely my least favorite New Found Glory album. I really can't stand the song Connected. And I'm really disappointed with most of the lyrics. Most of the songs are really, really repetitive and the cheesiness of a lot of the lines is almost too much for me to handle. For instance the chorus of the opening song: "I don't want to be without you, I don't want to live without you, I don't want to breathe without you, You're my oxygen" That song is titled Oxygen, if you couldn't guess. And from Connected: "Soon I'll be home from all this work and I'll make love to you (make love to you)". Come on guys, I miss lines like: "in the bright of day, it might seem like the stars are gone, they never leave, they come back when the sun moves on" and "too stubborn, too ignorant, too crazy about you, I didn't know love was blind" and "I sat and stared at the sky, I knew I'd find myself there again, I wonder how else to cope with the air, the air that brings me this luck, I'm unlucky, that's just me".

Despite my disappointment in the new album, I'm still really looking forward to seeing them in October (with Cartel and The Early November!). NFG has never disappointed me with their live show, and I've even come to like some songs more after hearing them played live, so I have no doubts I'll enjoy the show. I'm hoping we'll get a good dose of classic NFG songs along with new stuff, but I'm not going to get my hopes up too high.