New Found Glory - Catalyst


I'm sure you're not surprised to know that the punk revival of the late 90s spawned a whole lot of little brother bands playing pop-punk. Obviously the big brother bands that started that wave are going strong, Blink 182, Sum 41, and the ganddads who are Green Day, but there's a whole second tier now with Paramore, Yellowcard, Simple Plan, and this band, New Found Glory. I didn't care much, mostly because i was in the middle of getting my Master's degree, and the whole scene isn't that great. They also belong to that wave of christian bands who found bigger success by not pounding their faith over everbody's heads like leftover 2x4s and folding chairs at Wrestlemania. Tonight's album is awesome though. 

You wanna talk about catchy songs? Catalyst is chock full of 'em. Awkward lyrics are par for the course (Incubus had tons of 'em i didn't mention), and New Found Glory has a very particular thing about relationships being difficult when you're always on tour. It's a consistent theme across all their albums. This one has awesome artwork though. A complete visual world of sleazy creatures and wide-eyed big-head children people in a cartoon world of fame, failure, and lies. It works really well. 

It's easy to misunderstand the concept here, because it actually requires knowing the definition of "catalyst." Chemistry wise, a catalyst is a substance that initiates a reaction without itself taking part in that reaction, but more generically a person or thing that causes a series of events by just existing. Trump, for example, is a catalyst of belligerent stupidity. I had no idea who the crow was supposed to be, but here the catalyst is intentionally a variety of characters: love, the person you love, fame, the person promising you fame if you just follow them through the spooky forest of lies, you get the idea.

Is it going to voice those deep seated existential feelings you grapple with on the rooftops late at night? No. Is it as whiny or self absorbed as their peers. Also no. Is it listenable? Yes, and dare i say enjoyably so. Then again, i'm best known for failure, so you might find it whiny and juvenile.

Part 3

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