New Found Glory - Coming Home (2006)
Isn't it kinda funny how nearly every pop-punk band has that -one- album that breaks away from everything they've done before, and that everyone holds up as being "actually really good"? I'm sure you already have these examples in mind, but blink-182's (depending on who you ask) untitled/self-titled album, Green Day's "American Idiot", etc. Well, now you can add New Found Glory's "Coming Home" to that list, because this album right 'ere is something that few people will appreciate, but had a lot of love put into it. To be honest, the first few times I heard this album, it didn't even really stick with me, because I was taken aback so much by the lower tempo songs and general lack of much pop-punk, given that the album is a concept album about missing your loved ones back home, it's only fitting that there's no equivalent of "My Friends Over You" on this album, because it'd sound incredibly out of place in the atmosphere that this album manages to create and maintain.
The first thing you'll notice upon listening to this album is that it pretty much drops everything New Found Glory had been known for musically, with its most pop-punk like moments existing in the first three songs "Oxygen", "Hold My Hand" and "It's Not Your Fault", and while the catchy melodies and relatable lyrics are still there, the songs are much more textured than before and show a fair bit of artistic growth, which is pretty immediate since "On My Mind" sounds like it could be a classic rock song. To call this album an alternative rock album would be much more fitting than a pop-punk album, naturally, but the huge change has certainly caused (myself initially, as well) many people to write-off this album as a failed experimentation and that they got too mature too fast, but if you stick with it, you'll find that in a sea of their other albums which wreak of teenage angst, first love, and all the pain that goes with the ending of it, this is a very adult album with themes of loneliness and longing, not because "my boyfriend/girlfriend broke up with me", but the fact that the only thing that separates you is distance. This is possibly best shown in "Connections", a slower song in which Jordan Pundik sings "Soon I'll be back from all this work, and I'll make love to you (Make love to you). We'll reconnect it" and the fact that it's complimented by the beautiful backing vocals of Sherri DuPree-Bemis from Eisley helps reinforce something: For the first time in New Found Glory's career, they've written music that isn't just catchy and/or relatable, they've written some truly beautiful songs.
That isn't to suggest that it's the only beautiful song on the album, however, with "When I Die", an epic song about the death of guitarist Chad Gilbert's father, in which it describes the pain of losing a loved one, but briefly touches on religion by believing that your loved one is in a better place, and that the both of you will be reconnected one day. Regardless of your own personal religious beliefs, it's hard to hear the song and not hear the love and passion in it, as it expresses a feeling of "This hurts, but this isn't good-bye" perfectly, and lastly, the ending track, "Boulders", is just beautiful. It's incredible. In fact, a lot of this album can be summed up as "incredible" in itself. The album finds itself repeatedly exiting the familiar and easy territory that New Found Glory had seemingly cemented themselves into, and walks proudly as a much more mature and depressing work of art that many people will easily dismiss as being "too different", but few will truly come to appreciate. If you're in a long-distance relationship, this is -the- album to put on to sum up everything you feel. Beautiful, but not as beautiful as -that- person, but then again.. What is?
8/10
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Feel free to check out the song previews/buy this album using my Amazon Associate link!
