Green Day
21st Century Breakdown

THE REVIEW

Definitely this album is one of the most anticipated of 2009, Green Day have written many beautiful songs but for almost 10 years, since Dookie, they haven't released a decent album until 2004, with American Idiot, which I think is one of the best of the decade 2000 - 2010, even though there's still 1 year to say that, and that's why it was a highly awaited return, everyone wants to see if American Idiot was just an exception or if Green Day is indeed back on track at 100%.

"21st Century Breakdown" takes up the structure of the previous record: it is therefore a concept album, with 18 songs, perhaps too many, but unlike the previous one, it doesn't contain tracks lasting 9 minutes that are a combination of multiple songs, only the 17 but it still lasts less than 5 minutes.

If the structure can be defined as similar, the style is completely different. The album obviously contains those hard rock punk riffs that have characterized the band over the years but in many songs, the piano is used, giving more melody and tranquility, not that Green Day isn't themselves anymore, their mark is felt, but let's say they wanted to innovate, not always successfully, never abandoning their tone.

The first track "Song for The Century" is an intro, the second is the title track, very nice, rocky, engaging, an excellent track to use as an opening for a record.

The 3rd track is the single being played these days, "Kill Your Enemy", a track that sounds very good, in which the group doesn't say anything new about their style, but it's still enjoyable and will surely last.

"Viva La Gloria", opens like a melodic ballad, with a nice piano intro, very orchestral with some violins in the background, then reaching the classic punk chorus

Track 5 is called "Before Lobotomy", it has somewhat strange and experimental sounds that at first capture but after a while, become tiresome.

"Christian's Inferno" is the fastest and harshest on the record, a sort of return to the roots, it's the "Saint Jimmy" of this album, in short.

Track 7, "Last Night On Earth", is another ballad that opens with the piano, with a Beatles-like atmosphere, but maybe it's a bit monotonous.

"East Jesus Nowhere" is another nice burst of energy, powerful and fast, just as only Green Day knows how, but it slightly recalls "Hitchin a Ride".

The 9th track is called "Peacemaker", it is an experimental track for Green Day's style, very successful and shows how this band wants to evolve and not always offer the same things

"Last Of American Girls" is the 10th, offers nothing new and in fact, it's the same as 1000 other Green Day songs, however, it is still engaging and immediately captivating.

Number 11 is called "Murder City", another track in full Green Day style, very catchy, that takes up the sounds of American Idiot, and although it is still a nice song, it feels very déjà vu.

The 12th is called "Viva La Gloria Little Girl", it opens with a piano piece in tarantella style, perhaps one of the most experimental in the album, referring to somewhat gypsy and roma sounds.

"Restless Heart Syndrome" is the 13th, this one is also a rather melodic song, characterized by keyboards and acoustic guitars, a ballad, but maybe a bit too weak, with some parts that remind of Boulevard Of Broken Dreams.

"Horseshores And Handgrenades", the 14th, once again offers the style for which the band became known, very catchy and hard riffs, but here too, although it's a nice piece, it feels very déjà vu.

The 15th is "The Static Age", opens with a drum base in the foreground, then explodes with guitars, this is also a melodic track but at the same time rocky.

"21 Guns", the 16th, is the longest track on the album, almost 6 minutes, a song with melodic verses, reminiscent of "What If God Was One Of Us", and a chorus where electric guitars explode, certainly a potential single.

Track 17 is a two-act track, which reprises the intro, links back to the experiments done in American Idiot of merging multiple tracks, here, however, Green Day learns from the mistakes and doesn't make an overly long track, but a very cohesive and compact song, something that didn't happen with the previous album.

"See The Light" is the last song on the album, revisits the melodic line from the beginning of the title track, a worthy closure for a concept album.

In my opinion, this album is not a masterpiece like the previous one, but it also needs to be listened to a lot before judging it, and this is still a fresh review, I've only listened to the album a couple of times; it's true that 5 years have passed, and maybe something more could have been expected, but with the music that's being produced these days, perhaps the best we can have is this album, which is very good but certainly not without flaws.

In my opinion, there are too many tracks, the album lasts 71 minutes, and perhaps it would have been better to focus on quality over quantity, many songs are similar to 100 other songs by the group, Green Day must still be credited for experimenting with their style and often creating interesting results, hopefully awaiting a next album, hopefully in less than 5 years, totally outside the box.