ALBUM REVIEW: Listen Up! – New Found Glory
Twenty-nine years in, and NEW FOUND GLORY remain exactly what they’ve always been: one of pop-punk’s most dependable, infectious forces. Listen Up! arrives six years after 2020’s Forever + Ever x Infinity and three years after the acoustic Make The Most Of It – an album born from guitarist Chad Gilbert’s courageous battle with a rare pheochromocytoma tumour diagnosed in late 2021. That context matters here, because Listen Up! isn’t just another pop-punk record from a band approaching their 30th anniversary. It’s a statement of defiance, wrapped in the shiniest melodies NEW FOUND GLORY have delivered in years.
Produced by Steve Evetts and recorded with touring guitarist Dan O’Connor contributing alongside the classic lineup of Gilbert, Jordan Pundik, Ian Grushka, and Cyrus Bolooki, the album wastes no time establishing its intentions. Early cut 100% arrives with explosive drums and jagged riffs, Pundik’s quickfire vocals delivering Gilbert’s defiant chorus, “My word is cement, I’m gonna give you 100%”, with the infectiousness NEW FOUND GLORY have spent decades perfecting. It’s not quite up there with the band’s biggest hitters, but as a statement of intent, it hits the mark.
Where Listen Up! truly finds its stride is in its middle. Laugh It Off embraces their punkier roots with a razor-sharp lead riff that pulses through the track like blood through a vein. Beer And Blood Stains shoots out the gate with furious energy, Gilbert’s nostalgic lyrics about the band’s early club days arriving alongside a breakdown section that would have mosh pits erupting. Medicine, however, is the album’s standout, with Grushka’s bassline steering proceedings into WEEZER-esque power-pop territory, its warm, grunge-soaked tone perfectly complementing Pundik’s melodic delivery. An indulgent solo erupts mid-track without ever tipping into cheesy territory. It’s one of NEW FOUND GLORY’s best songs in years, possibly ever.
Treat Yourself continues the winning streak, Gilbert channeling positivity and self-aware wit despite his ongoing battles: “This verse is here to say I’m well versed in losing.” You Got This keeps momentum rolling with Bolooki’s relentless drumming, whilst closer Frankenstein’s Monster sends proceedings off with the circle pit energy we expect from a GREEN DAY gig.
The album isn’t without shortcomings. Dream Born Again, whilst a pleasant expansion of its acoustic predecessor from Make The Most Of It, feels slightly underwhelming amongst such energetic company. Similarly, if NEW FOUND GLORY were butchers, A Love Song and Boom Roasted feel like reliable, well done sirloins compared to Medicine or Beer and Blood Stains ribeye juiciness and superior flavours.
NEW FOUND GLORY aren’t breaking new ground here, and nobody expects them to. Listen Up! is a warm, infectiously fun collection of pop-punk that proves, thirty years on, the legends still know exactly how to write songs that make you feel genuinely good about being alive.
Rating: 7/10
Listen Up! is set for release on February 20th via Pure Noise Records.
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