The Alternative Star.com

New Found Glory – Not Without a Fight

Release Date: March 10, 2009 on Epitaph

Who?

A pop punk band from Florida with very nasally vocals and incredibly corny lyrics, or at least that used to be a fairly accurate description of New Found Glory. I have to admit I’ve never been a huge fan, I heard about them from Blink-182 and while I thought some of their songs were overly catchy, they just never appealed to me like other pop punk acts did. However that all changed when I listened to Not Without a Fight. It may have taken 11 years but the band finally made an excellent pop punk record that I’ve been listening to every day since I got the advance at the end of February. Plus the fact that my favourite bassist of all time Mark Hoppus was behind the whole thing couldn’t have hurt either...

How is it?

Excellent! These guys were one of the first pop punk bands I heard that combined pop punk with hardcore break downs and gang vocals, perhaps one of my favourite combinations of pop punk ever. It’s just that the cheesy lyrics and the nasally vocals were such a turn off but with the band getting rid of those elements, they’ve created a record that will almost certainly get a spot on my Best of 2009 list and have finally turned me into a real fan. Every song is great, none of them are filler and that is overly refreshing. “Don’t Let Her Pull You Down” is an upbeat tune with a massive chorus filled with gang vocals. The single “Listen to Your Friends” will have you singing along for sure while “47” and “Truck Stop Blues” were the stand out tracks for me the first time I listened to the record. “Reasons” starts off with acoustic guitars but it’s still a fist pumping tune and has my favourite chorus. Basically, if you are a huge pop punk fan, don’t forget about this release. Not Without a Fight in one of those rare pop punk discs that actually has lasting power and that in itself is a huge accomplishment. Too many pop punk acts are disposable nowadays.

Final Verdict? 4.5/5

Review by Deborah Remus