The alternative rock trio Green Day is back at it again with their 12th LP, “Revolution Radio.”
Filled with heavy guitar riffs, driving drum beats, politically charged lyrics and Armstrong’s signature vocals, the tracks of “Revolution Radio” are very pop-punk. Similar to their 2009 album, “21st Century Breakdown,” “Revolution Radio” has decent tracks and fantastic lyrics. It seems like Green Day is stuck in a musical rut they just cannot get out of, but it works for them.
Each song is different, yet the same. The album is extraordinarily cohesive to the point that certain songs seem to blend together. Listeners will find themselves double checking to make sure the song ended. This is nothing new for Green Day, as some songs from the past, including “Holiday” and “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” from “American Idiot,” are actually one track on the whole album.
“Bang Bang,” the album’s lead single, shows the ferocity fans loved in Green Day’s pre-“American Idiot” tracks. It brings fans back to the good old punk rock that they originally fell for. It is fast, it is dominant and everything listeners wish Green Day would continue to be. Ending every chorus with “daddy’s little psycho and mommy’s little soldier” before going into a “Bang Bang” displays Armstrong’s authoritative guitar playing that drives the track.
“Bang Bang” is not just a powerhouse single.
“It’s about the culture of mass shooting that happens in America mixed with narcissistic social media,” Armstrong said in an interview with Rolling Stone. “After I wrote it, all I wanted to do was get that out of my brain because it just freaked me out… I wouldn’t even say I was trying to understand it. I was just trying to figure out the character.”
A “21 Guns”-esque “Outlaws” begins as its predecessor, starting out slow, picking up the pace with massive drum beats then coming back down for the verses. Opening up with a quick five-second-long, heavy drum beat, Armstrong’s voice fades in and sounds far away while Mike Dirnt’s bass guitar takes center stage in the beginning. But when Armstrong’s voice gets louder, Dirnt’s bass is drowned out by a slow and steady drum beat just to take it back down for the next verse. A pleasing slow-ish song, “Outlaws” could very well be the next punk-couple-runaway song.
Bouncy. That is how “Revolution Radio” can be summed up in one word. Most of the tracks, excluding “Bang Bang,” “Outlaws,” “Ordinary World,” “Still Breathing” and “Troubled Times,” are interesting and have one of the instruments creating an almost playful line, this includes Armstrong’s vocals.
The albums outro, “Ordinary World” finds the listener listening to Armstrong’s pleas for living in just that, an ordinary world. Lyrically speaking, “Ordinary World” is a brief acoustic song, the only one on the album. A peaceful final track, it is a nice one to go out on considering the heavy punk rock strewn throughout the album.
Overall, “Revolution Radio” is not one of Green Day’s finest albums, but it is still an alternative rock gem.
