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Album Reviews

Published on January 28th, 2024 | by Denise Borders

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Album Review: Green Day “Saviors”

review by Ricky Frankel

Release: Saviors
Band: Green Day
Label: Reprise Records
Score: 7/10

Official Green Day Store

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For decades now Green Day has been an entry point band for millions of people to get introduced to punk rock. All of their 90s discography is pretty untouchable. Even ‘Warning,’ I would argue, has aged quite well despite it not performing on the charts when it was originally released in 2000. And while some may find this take a bit spicy, I think that 2004’s ‘America Idiot’ has cemented itself as a major punk rock achievement. But coming from a fan of Green Day for 20+ years, it seemed like they just went out into left field after that. I have given every album of their’s since ‘American Idiot’ a chance and would end up with the same thought: “What were they thinking?”

Now Green Day is back with ‘Saviors.’ When the album was announced in the second half of 2023 the band mentioned that they had the legendary Rob Cavallo back in the producer role. That already was a good sign for the new album. Then single, after single kept getting released with high praise generally from the wider punk scene. I didn’t think I’d ever be stoked on a new Green Day record, but here we are.

Side-A starts the album off very strongly with hard-hitting singles like ‘The American Dream, Is Killing Me,’ which brings Green Day back into the political/social commentary arena with lyrics like, “People on the street/Unemployed and obsolete/Did you ever learn to read the ransom note?” “Look Ma, No Brains!” is a classic Green Day tune taylored perfectly for 2024. It has incredibly catchy and anthemic vocals that only Billie Joe Armstrong could nail. The guitars are choppy and Tre Cool’s drums are just relentless. This tune in particular is definitely the crown jewel of ‘Saviors’ for old-school Green Day fans. “Dilemma” starts out slow with Armstrong singing gently over some very clean and crisp guitar chords, but once he’s done the whole band just blasts you with dripping distortion, more bashing drums, and some of Armstrongs highest and biggest vocals to date. It’s a noticeably personal song that delves into Armstrong’s struggle with addiction: “I was sober, now I’m drunk again/I’m In trouble and in love again.” And the track “1981” is a fun little, Ramones-core tune that contains lyrics dedicated to the glory days of early punk and hardcore.

While side-A of ‘Saviors’ has a surprising amount of jams, side-B really cools off (with some exceptions like the underrated “Strange Days Are Here To Stay”). The track “Corvette Summer” comes off as sort of filler track, that is a bit of an ode to early classic rock. There are also a couple of ballads on the record like, “Father To A Son” and “Goodnight Adeline.” The orchestra-led “Father To A Son” can be taken as sort of the sequel “Wake Me Up When September Ends,” where Billie Joe sings a song dedicated to his son this time, instead of his late father. While this is touching and there obviously is a precedent for Green Day to include ballad-type songs on their records, theydo slow down the pace of ‘Saviors’ to the point where the LP starts to drag.

One of the main themes that Green Day has been talking about in their press tour for ‘Saviors’ is that it is the third major album in their catalogue — ‘Dookie’ and ‘American Idiot’ being the other two. For right now, I think that is a bit of a stretch. Whether the “punk police” like it or not, those two records were clearly going to be classics as soon as they were released. ‘Saviors’ is a very good, solid album, but is it a classic? That remains to be seen. Maybe it’ll age well over the years like ‘Warning’ did. But for now, fans who felt pushed to the side by the band post-‘American Idiot’ can finally rest assured that ‘Saviors’ is Green Day’s best album in two decades.

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About the Author

40, Los Angeles. Denise founded PWV in 2008 and remains the primary manager and photographer/videographer. She is not secretly obsessed with Joey Cape.



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