Goldfinger popped into the mainstream punk movement right as it was really taking off in the mid 90's, with their radio hits Here In Your Bedroom and Mable. Despite that great exposure and fanbase, their following 2 albums never made it very far. Their 4th record, Open Your Eyes, comes out May 7 on Mojo Records.
Well this review is easy, because I get to copy, nearly verbatim, my Face to Face review from a couple weeks ago!
"Unfortunately, this album offers up nothing but the increasingly standard dose of melodic punk rock without any form of ingenuity, creativity, or musical growth. Not that this album is BAD per se, it's just that if you've heard [Goldfinger], or ANY melodic punk rock, you've heard this before ... There's not even one song that really stands out as particularly catchy or interesting ... mediocre is mediocre."
Cynicism aside, this album really sounds like Goldfinger just sat around listening to their first two CDs and trying to come up with the same magic they had before. So many of these songs sound the same it's annoying, and none of them are very good. Even if you like this sort of formulaic radio punk, I don't think you'll really enjoy this album too much. The only good thing I have to say about it is that the production is as top notch as it has been on every release: great guitar sound, strong vocals, etc. Unfortunately not even the best recording and singing voice can make up for boring songwriting (I'm going to leave out my jab at Dashboard for fear that my life might be cut short by all the artsy girls that read this).
C-
Similar sounding releases
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2000NOFXPump Up the Valuum
2002Ghoti HookGhoti Hook
2005The WeddingThe Wedding
2002Strung OutAn American Paradox
2005Last TuesdayResolve
