With Green Day’s 12th full length studio album, they’ve done their best to cement their legacy as one of the great, if not the greatest, pop punk bands of this generation. Even more so, Green Day are trying to get back on track after the letdown that was their triple album release ¡Uno! ¡Dos! ¡Tré!. With Revolution Radio, they do a solid job of achieving this.
We all know that Green Day are capable of some game changing classic albums (think Dookie and American Idiot), and while Revolution Radio doesn’t reach those lofty heights, it isn’t something that should be ignored completely. Green Day have corrected their course and have gone back to their quick, punchy, political punk rock roots.
Lead single Bang Bang makes it as clear as possible that the band are going back to what has worked in the past. It’s three minutes of catchy pop punk with a distinct political message about mass gun violence in America. To say it’s reminiscent of American Idiot is an understatement. The solo that Tré Cool rips out towards the end of Bang Bang deserves a mention as does the rest of his work on this album. The drumming is as immense as ever, and the argument that his incredible punk grooves are what make Green Day great is now a very easy one to make. Final track Ordinary World is an acoustic call back to some of the softer Green Day songs everyone has grown to love and a pretty soothing touch to close out the LP.
Overall this album is a reminder that Green Day aren’t dead yet. It isn’t a genre defining classic, but it’s a respectable entry into a very respectable catalogue.
BY NATHAN QUATTRUCCI
