Album Review

Sum 41 - Screaming Bloody MurderSum 41 – Screaming Bloody Murder

It has been a good four years since Sum 41 released their last studio album ‘Underclass Hero’ , the album was a pure fast paced punk rock album and it seemed that Sum 41 one had found their pace and the killer sound which really suited them, but now they have just released their fifth studio album ‘Screaming Bloody Murder’ and wow it is a big change for Sum 41.

During a the four years between ‘Screaming Bloody Murder’ and ‘Underclass Hero’ a lot of negative stuff has happened to Sum 41 such as injuries, fights and general bad health but the worst of the worst was front man Deryck Whibley’s divorce to Avril Lavigne which was a messy procedure running from October 2009 right up until the divorce was finalised in November 2010 and despite how bad that was for Whibley it has helped him shine with song writing and given Sum 41 a whole new lease of life as the songs featured throughout ‘Screaming Bloody Murder’ are epic sounding with a lot of the lyrical content inspired around the whole divorce situation.

I will be honest when I first put ‘Screaming Bloody Murder’ on I was confused as it was nothing like what I was expecting and all the poppy punk elements that I have grown to love from Sum 41 over the years were gone and instead there was this whole massive hard hitting rock sound with epic arrangements and tear jerker emotional lyrics, but after sticking with it and listening to the album over and over I have fallen in love with one of best albums that will grow on you more and more over time.

The album opens with ‘Reason To Believe’ and from the start you just know that this is not going to be your standard Sum 41 album because it fires up in a big dark heavy instrumental way with the guitars coming in first packing a punch and then moments later the drums come in packing an even bigger punch and then Whibley’s dark serious vocals follow giving the song that all so dark feeling, but as the song progresses it changes and turns into a soft song throughout the last minute with a beautiful sounding piano piece fading the song out.

Next up is the album title track ‘Screaming Bloody Murder’ and my god what an amazing song, the song is turbo charged from start to finish, it is dark sounding instrumentally, vocally and lyrically but at the same time it is fast paced and oozing with excitement.

The majority of the tracks on the album have negative names such as ‘Skumfuk’, ‘Jessica Kill’, ‘Sick Of Everyone’, ‘Blood In My Eyes’ , and most of these songs are about dealing with breakups and bad relationships which a lot of people can relate to as the lyrics in places are really deep and meaningfull.

‘Jessica Kill’ is one of the best tracks on the album and that is simply down to its hard hitting chorus which is catchy yet sounds quite brutal with Whibley’s new found vocal style. ‘Holy Image Of Lies’ is another killer track which has a massive tub thumper of a chorus which features Whibley singing the deep lyrics of “Yeah, tell me it’s over cause I don’t feel a thing at all”, and also features some of the best instrumental work that Sum 41 have done since ‘Pain For Pleasure’.

Despite these really good stand out tracks it is ‘Crash’ which really stands out the most, it is an emotionally charged slow song which features a chilled piano piece running throughout and nothing else but Whibley’s truly emotional vocals with Whibley singing his heart out to lyrics of “Hold me now cause I couldn’t even if I tried, it’s over now, I guess it really is my time, I don’t wanna go but it’s time I gotta say goodbye, so hold me now because this will be our last time’ and also “I don’t wanna die I don’t know why this kinda fate was meant for me, you gotta be strong gotta move on it’s not how it was supposed to be”, the lyrics are truly moving and some of the best that Whibley has ever wrote and the general pace of the song adds to the whole emotional feel of the song.

The way the songs have been placed on the album is quite cleaver because one minute you will be listening to an emotional song such as ‘Crash’ and then the next you will be listening to the hard hitting ‘Blood In My Eyes’ and then The Vines influenced ‘Baby You Don’t Wanna Know’ and that is the good thing about the album despite it being 80% full on hard hitting rock, there is that 20% which features pop, punk, indie which makes the album slightly diverse sounding.

Overall you can clearly see that ‘Screaming Bloody Murder’ was a hard album to create but Sum 41 have done extremely well because if you are open minded and give the album your undivided time then you will come out so happy that you did because this is the Sum 41 album that stands out the most and extra kudos go out to Deryck Whibley for the amazing work he did on producing the album.

5/5

Review by Trigger

 Band Members

Deryck Whibley
Tom Thacker
Jason McCaslin
Steve Jocz
 Track Listing
1. Reason To Believe
2. Screaming Bloody Murder
3. Skumfuk
4. Time For You To Go
5. Jessica Kill
6. What Am I To Say
7. Holy Image Of Lies
8. Sick Of Everyone
9. Happiness Machine
10. Crash
11. Blood In My Eyes
12. Baby You Don't Wanna Know
13. Back Where I Belong
14. Exit Song
 Band Related Links
Sum 41 Myspace
 Review Score Code
- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
- What Was That?