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Sum 41

Underclass Hero  Hear it Now

RS: 2of 5 Stars

2007

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When they deputed six year back, Sum 41 were pretty likable and pretty ordinary - just goofy, popwise Canadians down with vintage metal, Blink-182 and dick jokes. Since then, Deryck Whibley married Avril Lavigne, and the band got famous and lost a guitarist, but Sum 41 haven't exactly taken their sound to new heights: Underclass Hero is long on openhearted tunes about broken homes, youthful alienation and such, which draw on every pop-punk device you could think of, including arena-size choruses and the same shimmery keyboard textures Blink used on their "mature" record four years back. When it works - as on the straight-ahead barnburner "King of Contradiction" and the anthemic anti-Bush screed "The Jester" - the band's expertise is admirable. But melodrama drags down several cuts, including the absentee-dad lament "Dear Father," and in some form or another, you've heard all these songs before.

CHRISTIAN HOARD

(Posted: Aug 23, 2007)

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