For the most part, you know what you are going to get with a new Green Day album, right? The band overall has not truly tinkered with its basic sound even though they have matured some. The premise is almost always some left-leaning politics, a tad bit of confusion, some general angst, and above all, a bunch of just being genuine human beings.
Sure, the band that created Dookie has gone on to create American Idiot and "Good Riddance," but at the heart of it, the trio still knows how to carve out their own unique pop-punkiness better than any band has a right to. You might not agree with their politics or that they sell a few too many records for a punk band, but you always have to admit that with any Green Day record you know you will have a fun listen. Saviors is no different.
Unlike 2020's Father of All Motherf*****s, Saviors gets into politics straight away. Almost as if vocalist/lyricist Billie Joe Armstrong is saying, "OK, the last album was a one-off, but we are getting back to upsetting conservatives now." And thank goodness for it, even if you happen to be a conservative, because Armstrong has a gift for a turn of phrase like on album opener, "The American Dream Is Killing Me" where Armstrong sings, "From sea to shining sea/Whitewashed upon the beach/My country under siege/On private property."
Green Day deliver what you would expect on Saviors and that's a good thing
There are zero bad songs on Saviors though the band gives us 15 tracks after taking four years off. The wait is worth it. "Bobby Sox" is grungy bliss, "Look Ma, No Brains!" is as pure punk as Green Day gets these days, "1981" and "Corvette Summer" will give you the same warm and fuzzy nostalgia that "Wake Me Up When September Ends" only without the drama.
Armstrong and Green Day have never completely sold out because they never needed to. Their sound was divinely created to have its own niche that both sounds familiar but also with a slight edge of danger. Over the decades they have been making music their songwriting skills have evolved, but their knack for giving us hook-heavy great songs has always been there and there is more of it on the not-to-be-missed Saviors.
Tracklisting:
Side A:
1. ‘The American Dream Is Killing Me’
2. ‘Look Ma, No Brains!’
3. ‘Bobby Sox’
4. ‘One Eyed Bastard’
5. ‘Dilemma’
6. ‘1981’
7. ‘Goodnight Adeline’
Side B:
8. ‘Coma City’
9. ‘Corvette Summer’
10. ‘Suzie Chapstick’
11. ‘Strange Days Are Here to Stay’
12. ‘Living In The ’20s’
13. ‘Father To A Son’
14. ‘Saviors’
15. ‘Fancy Sauce’
Rating: 4 out of 5