Good Charlotte
The Chronicles Of Life And Death

THE REVIEW

Exactly 4 years have passed since the last successful release of the Madden twins' group; it was "The Young And The Hopeless," which brought them to the forefront thanks to their more than catchy pop punk that was so popular at the time, and indeed singles like "Lifestyle Of The Rich And Famous" and "Girls And Boys" were heard repeatedly on the radio, accompanied on MTV by the respective videos. And as is customary, it is difficult to repeat success, especially for a band following this musical genre, the risk of releasing a clone album of the previous one is very high. So what do Good Charlotte do? They produce an album where they almost completely abandon childlike choruses and lyrics from a juvenile band to venture into something darker; overall the album can be defined as much more rock than its predecessor, and there are many ballads, some experiments, (like the piano in the song "The Truth")... In short, something innovative for them. For instance, in the album's lead single, the seventh track "Predictable," the American quintet offers sounds very close to emo, and more specifically to the emo-rock fringe: in any case, a listenable piece but very far from the singles of a few years ago of the Maryland band.

After an instrumental intro, it starts with a classic pop punk piece from which the album takes its title, a typical cheerful and carefree song but with a slightly more melodic vein; the following "Walk Away (Maybe)" appears more in line with current times, being a track leaning towards emo. We arrive at number five "I Just Wanna Live", perhaps the best track on the album, being a piece that may remind one of the best boy-bands on the MTV scene. Melody and even a touch of melancholy can be found in tracks like "Ghost Of You" and "Secrets", and like in every rock-leaning album, there can't be a missing ballad suitable for evoking loving or sad memories: "The Truth" is ideal for this. After this veil of sweet melodies, one can find slightly more cheerful-sounding tracks like "The World Is Black", where there's use of a xylophone or something similar, but where the melody still prevails. Some sharper and more decisive guitar riffs are hard to find; one has to settle for hearing them in the last tracks, especially in "In This World".

In short, it is pointless to deny that this Madden brothers and co.'s album might leave previous fans stunned, in a negative sense, by venturing down a new path whose characteristics can be noticed in many aspects: from the darker and more mysterious cover, from the album title and lyrics, more reflective, personal, and less carefree. I would say to appreciate this attempt at improvement, successful in some parts, such as some experiments with the use of new sounds, in others not so much: for instance, in my opinion, there are too many tracks for an album of this type, perhaps the ideal would have been to include about ten or so. Recently it's not the first time a pop punk band ventures with new ideas (see Blink 182), it remains to be seen how Good Charlotte intends to proceed. It will undoubtedly be seen more than from the reviews, positive or negative, from the sales.

It's worth noting that there are two versions of this album: the "Death" version, which has as a bonus track and fifteenth track the song "Meet My Maker", and the "Life" version, which, apart from having a lighter colored cover, has as a bonus track "Falling Away".