Screaming Bloody Murder- My Album Review

[Dbacks1694]

Hey guys, I was asked to review album review for my high school newspaper over Screaming Bloody Murder so I figure id write one on here for practice. Here it is:
1. Reason To Believe- Starts off with a pretty heavy intro with guitar and drums kicking off the album on a dark note with this opening song. The song started off as one of my least favorite on the album but has slowly been growning on me, shows definate signs of a changed Sum 41. 6.5/10
2. Screaming Bloody Murder- good song. You all know it is. 8/10
3. Scumfuck- Not a big fan of the new intro on the song, however the song as a whole is one of my favorites on the album, when listening I get the feeling of being in a haunted house montage, got a ghostly-rock sound to it. Great song overall! 8/10
4. Time For You To Go- a total indie-rock song, good song to listen to while driving, but as with other songs, doesn't sound like anything that the Sums have ever put out. Not a bad song, but not one of my favorites as it definately departs from typical Sum 41 sound. 6/10
5. Jessica Kill- My favorite song on the entire album, real gritty rock and if your a fan if the sums, you can't help but love this song. Lyrics are pretty cool and the chorus is phenomenal, awesome song all around! 9.5/10
6. What Am I To Say- Im pretty sure this is a song about the divorce with Avril and it shows in the lyrics. Starts off with an emotional ballad-driven first verse and the chorus is pretty emotional, definately shows Whibleys growth as a musician. Love the final verse as the song comes to a close. Good song. 7/10
7. Holy Image Of Lies- 2nd favorite song on the album. Song kicks off with an aggressively dark tone and the track has several tone changes throughout song; complimenting all 3 tracks 7-9 to make "Dark Road Out Of Hell". Song kinda trails off towards the end but it sets up nicely for the next track. Pretty epic song. 8.5/10
8. Sick Of Everyone- Pretty cool song but it ultimately doesn't do anything for my taste but you can tell by this point in the album that Whibley is pretty pissed off.
9. Happiness Machine- aside from the awesome album title, the song is solid. The opening guitar riff is amazing and haunting, if only the rest of the song would carry the rest of the pace...it slows down in the verses quite a bit and while the song itself is good...it would be better as a all out rock track like Jessica Kill without the tempo changes. 7.5/10
(Sidenote- Tracks 7-9 would be much much better if they were actually 1 solid track and not split up)
10. Crash- This song will get you thinking about your life. What were to happen if you were just to suddenly die? Deryck addresses this concept in a very emotional way, the piano is the lead instrument through the song with some easy led guitars. My expectations were really high for this song and I was a bit let down by the song overall, however its still an awesome track and is the most striking as a song lyrically to me. 8/10
11. Blood In My Eyes- Still remains a favorite to me on the album, the song is epic all the way through and retains the heavy rock sound to it like it were off Chuck. The guitar and bass solos towards the latter part of the song will send chills down your spine. 8.5/10
12. Baby You Don't Wanna Know- I wouldn't be surprised if this is unfortunately released as the next single for the album, while the song is really good, there's other on the album that are better, but its likely the most poppy-sounding song on the record. Its somewhat catchy but nothing on the level of other catchy songs they've done in the past. 7/10
13. Back Where I Belong- I feel like this should be the closing song on the album as it just shows Whibleys progression throughout himself and its a good sounding song, it'd just be nice to see this as the closer. 7.5/10
14. Exit Song- Do not like this song really at all, should have not been included in the final track listing. Nothing like So Long Goodbye or Look At Me as others say in my own opinion. 5/10
Overall: This album will take some time getting used too and I doubt it will win any new fans, but for the people who are already confirmed as fans of the band, they will enjoy it. Don't think it should have taken 4 years to release but a good piece of work in all by a band who used to be really fun and exciting for kids, but like everyone else, they have grown up. 7.4/10

[SBMurder]

your a very tough critique

[ptido]

My opinion about your review :

Well, it's a good one, but considering it's for your high school newspaper, you should do it another way : don't write it as if the reader was a fan. Don't write "you all know what it is" about the song sbm. You'd better write who could like this album (name other bands, talk about an "agressive and dark rock album") for example.

And I used to write "track by track" reviews of an album in the past, but really, it's not a good thing to do, it's boring to read, even for someone who listened to the album. It's cool to discuss or describe about each song with a community of big sum41's fan, but not really the best way to do a musical review (unless the album weren't out : it would be really interesting to describe them).

Also, present the band : you should say that they did many album since ten years, that the previous one was more poppy, that he broke up with avril lavigne and so this one is darker...

That's just my opinion. In fact I'm in university and I did my review for a newspaper as well... and mine isn't written the same way than yours, so...

[Heather]

agree with ptido, and good greif, give it a little bit more credit and a better review so the people in your school will go buy it and make it chart higher....

[fergal41]

agree with ptido, and good greif, give it a little bit more credit and a better review so the people in your school will go buy it and make it chart higher....

[Volted]

yeah, for a high school newspaper, i suggest not doing the track-by-track thing. that sort of thing i prefer reading online. you can however, write your opinion about the album as a whole, say "it has some darker songs like etc, etc, and some soft songs like etc, etc," instead. i don't write for a newspaper or anything, but i've read a few in high school and i was surprised to find a review on "american slang" in my university, which pointed out strengths, weaknesses, etc. though if your goal is to get more people to be fans, i'd leave out the weaknesses, but then your review becomes an advertisement that way. if you're going to refer to sum 41's older work, you can say like "fans of their debut album all killer no filler might be surprised with this album" or refer to specific singles that everyone knows, like fat lip or in too deep.

but that's sick, writing an article in your school newspaper on a sum 41 album. i'm gonna write a review later on this weekend and putting it in that thread thing, but it's just for the sake of letting everyone on the forum see my perspective on the album.

[Dbacks1694]

yeah, for a high school newspaper, i suggest not doing the track-by-track thing. that sort of thing i prefer reading online. you can however, write your opinion about the album as a whole, say "it has some darker songs like etc, etc, and some soft songs like etc, etc," instead. i don't write for a newspaper or anything, but i've read a few in high school and i was surprised to find a review on "american slang" in my university, which pointed out strengths, weaknesses, etc. though if your goal is to get more people to be fans, i'd leave out the weaknesses, but then your review becomes an advertisement that way. if you're going to refer to sum 41's older work, you can say like "fans of their debut album all killer no filler might be surprised with this album" or refer to specific singles that everyone knows, like fat lip or in too deep.

but that's sick, writing an article in your school newspaper on a sum 41 album. i'm gonna write a review later on this weekend and putting it in that thread thing, but it's just for the sake of letting everyone on the forum see my perspective on the album.

Oh sorry guys, I know not to put this in my paper, it wouldn't bee accepted lol. I just figured since im going to write one that id post one specifically for the fans on here. I know not to put what I wrote in a high school newspaper. But thanks for the suggestions anyways lol. :)

[ptido]

Ok, but don't forget to put the review for the newspaper here ! It's interesting to see how a journalist (... almost) want to present the new Sum 41's album to a noob in high school.