Green Day
Father Of All Motherfuckers

The credit amassed by Green Day after that incredible comeback which was "American Idiot" was squandered disastrously in just a few years, with a trilogy of albums completely unfocused and very uninspired.

Divided (like many other bands) between a group of fans loudly demanding a sharp return to the origins of albums like "Dookie" and "Insomniac", and another that has accepted and absorbed the new, more committed and ambitious direction of the American trio, four years ago Billie Joe and co. opted for a hybrid album like "Revolution Radio", and by cleverly balancing "traditional" tracks with some less predictable moments, they regained enormous success, hitting number one in both the United States and the UK.

Now it's the turn of their thirteenth studio album "Father Of All Motherfuckers", recorded in the summer of 2019 and produced by the band along with Butch Walker and Chris Dugan. It's an album that a while ago would have been described as "urgent": it is the shortest in the American combo's discography (barely twenty-six minutes), even shorter than their debut "39/Smooth", and it consists of ten sonic bullets that rarely exceed three minutes in length.

And it's a great thing because Green Day haven't sounded so direct and amused in a long time: you can already tell from the title track placed at the opening, which also serves as the lead single. Armstrong climbs up unexpected Prince-inspired falsettos, while the band dishes out a dry and decisive garage piece in the manner of the best Black Keys. "Fire, Ready, Aim" is no less, a minute and fifty of pure goofing off in the style of The Hives.

"Oh Yeah!" is an unusual episode in the context of the album, starting with the unusual sampling of Joan Jett's "Do You Wanna Touch Me", but it grows with each listen; Green Day really sound like Green Day on only one track ("Sugar Youth", a nice nod to the "American Idiot" sound), while the rest explores glam, blues, and sixties influences, sounding fresh and direct like in the delightful "Stab You In The Heart" and only occasionally bloated as in "I Was A Teenage Teenager" (a poorly focused Weezer / My Chemical Romance hybrid) and "Junkies On A High" (basically an unfortunate self-cover of "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams").

The album closes with its best track, "Graffitia", a heartfelt tribute to the Clash fathers of "I Fought The Law".

Best track: Graffitia