 
It has been a good four years since Sum 41 released
their last studio album ‘Underclass Hero’
, the album was a pure fast paced punk rock album
and it seemed that Sum 41 one had found their
pace and the killer sound which really suited
them, but now they have just released their fifth
studio album ‘Screaming Bloody Murder’
and wow it is a big change for Sum 41.
During a the four years between ‘Screaming
Bloody Murder’ and ‘Underclass Hero’
a lot of negative stuff has happened to Sum 41
such as injuries, fights and general bad health
but the worst of the worst was front man Deryck
Whibley’s divorce to Avril Lavigne which
was a messy procedure running from October 2009
right up until the divorce was finalised in November
2010 and despite how bad that was for Whibley
it has helped him shine with song writing and
given Sum 41 a whole new lease of life as the
songs featured throughout ‘Screaming Bloody
Murder’ are epic sounding with a lot of
the lyrical content inspired around the whole
divorce situation.
I will be honest when I first put ‘Screaming
Bloody Murder’ on I was confused as it was
nothing like what I was expecting and all the
poppy punk elements that I have grown to love
from Sum 41 over the years were gone and instead
there was this whole massive hard hitting rock
sound with epic arrangements and tear jerker emotional
lyrics, but after sticking with it and listening
to the album over and over I have fallen in love
with one of best albums that will grow on you
more and more over time.
The album opens with ‘Reason To Believe’
and from the start you just know that this is
not going to be your standard Sum 41 album because
it fires up in a big dark heavy instrumental way
with the guitars coming in first packing a punch
and then moments later the drums come in packing
an even bigger punch and then Whibley’s
dark serious vocals follow giving the song that
all so dark feeling, but as the song progresses
it changes and turns into a soft song throughout
the last minute with a beautiful sounding piano
piece fading the song out.
Next up is the album title track ‘Screaming
Bloody Murder’ and my god what an amazing
song, the song is turbo charged from start to
finish, it is dark sounding instrumentally, vocally
and lyrically but at the same time it is fast
paced and oozing with excitement.
The majority of the tracks on the album have negative
names such as ‘Skumfuk’, ‘Jessica
Kill’, ‘Sick Of Everyone’, ‘Blood
In My Eyes’ , and most of these songs are
about dealing with breakups and bad relationships
which a lot of people can relate to as the lyrics
in places are really deep and meaningfull.
‘Jessica Kill’ is one of the best
tracks on the album and that is simply down to
its hard hitting chorus which is catchy yet sounds
quite brutal with Whibley’s new found vocal
style. ‘Holy Image Of Lies’ is another
killer track which has a massive tub thumper of
a chorus which features Whibley singing the deep
lyrics of “Yeah, tell me it’s over
cause I don’t feel a thing at all”,
and also features some of the best instrumental
work that Sum 41 have done since ‘Pain For
Pleasure’.
Despite these really good stand out tracks it
is ‘Crash’ which really stands out
the most, it is an emotionally charged slow song
which features a chilled piano piece running throughout
and nothing else but Whibley’s truly emotional
vocals with Whibley singing his heart out to lyrics
of “Hold me now cause I couldn’t even
if I tried, it’s over now, I guess it really
is my time, I don’t wanna go but it’s
time I gotta say goodbye, so hold me now because
this will be our last time’ and also “I
don’t wanna die I don’t know why this
kinda fate was meant for me, you gotta be strong
gotta move on it’s not how it was supposed
to be”, the lyrics are truly moving and
some of the best that Whibley has ever wrote and
the general pace of the song adds to the whole
emotional feel of the song.
The way the songs have been placed on the album
is quite cleaver because one minute you will be
listening to an emotional song such as ‘Crash’
and then the next you will be listening to the
hard hitting ‘Blood In My Eyes’ and
then The Vines influenced ‘Baby You Don’t
Wanna Know’ and that is the good thing about
the album despite it being 80% full on hard hitting
rock, there is that 20% which features pop, punk,
indie which makes the album slightly diverse sounding.
Overall you can clearly see that ‘Screaming
Bloody Murder’ was a hard album to create
but Sum 41 have done extremely well because if
you are open minded and give the album your undivided
time then you will come out so happy that you
did because this is the Sum 41 album that stands
out the most and extra kudos go out to Deryck
Whibley for the amazing work he did on producing
the album.
5/5
Review by Trigger
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