Sum 41

It's been seven years since the Canadian trio Sum 41 made their debut in the heyday of pop-punk, but by the sound of their fifth album, no time has passed at all. Taking you back to the time when mildly disaffected boys in skate jeans videotaped wacky hijinks to a raucously melodic soundtrack, Underclass Hero is standard Warped Tour fare.

Sadly discarding any of the tight hooks he brought as co-producer to wife Avril Lavigne's The Best Damn Thing, Deryck Whibley instead provides a well-worn pop-punk sound for every song—one that's high on energy, but low on originality. Were it released by any other band, lead single "Underclass Hero" would be slapped with a plagiarism suit for its similarities to Sum 41's previous hit "Fat Lip." Meanwhile, "The Jester" targets the Green Day political anthem zone with its cry, "Now the president's dead / Because they blew off his head / No more neck to be red"—it's a catchy chorus, but one that's too familiar to have much impact.

—Abby McDonald
07.24.07

Sum 41 have always seemed like blink-182's baby brothers, right down to their nonsensical numbers in the name, so it's only appropriate that they're also attempting to grow up just like blink -- or better still, a bit like blink and a bit like Green Day, who have proven to be the standard-bearers for how latter-day punks can grow a social conscience and become mature, as evidenced by American Idiot. Sporting a similar-sounding but not as politically potent title in Underclass Hero, Sum 41's fifth studio album extends upon its predecessor Chuck's deliberate attempt at getting serious and relevant, giving the impression that they're telling a story, creating an anthem for the "underclass hero," the slacker who can't be labeled as an underachiever because he never attempts to achieve. The first couple songs here -- the fists-in-the-air wannabe anthem title track, the narcissistic self-loathing "Walking Disaster" -- hit as hard as processed pedal distortion can, but Sum 41 (now down to a trio after the departure of guitarist Dave Baksh) soon abandon any larger narrative as they start to stretch out with acoustic guitars, keyboards, and Queen harmonies uncannily reminiscent of My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade. Despite these flashy accoutrements, Sum 41 don't want to be emo, they don't want to be prog, they don't even aspire to the mock the U2 atmospherics of Angels and Airwaves; they want to be nothing more than predictable punk-pop. Like all Sum 41 albums, Underclass Hero is ingratiating and hooky enough to have momentum but not enough to linger in the memory. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide