New Found Glory, 'Not Without a Fight'

The buzz: Although they never reached Green Day or Fall Out Boy levels of success, New Found Glory did revive interest in the concept of “pop-punk” during the early part of the decade, scoring a few minor hits and a couple of gold-certified albums. But after the rise of emo and fans’ tepid response to the band’s 2006 LP “Coming Home,” it seemed like NFG were merely a relic of the Sum 41/Blink-182/Simple Plan/Good Charlotte era.

The verdict: Relic, or pleasant reminder? “Fight” proves that melody, romantic angst and caffeinated punk can co-exist, especially when the band throws in a few curveballs. The hardcore chants echoing throughout “Don’t Let Her Pull You Down” and “Such a Mess” keep “Fight” from getting too saccharine, and the mix of melancholy and arena rock guitars in “Tangled Up” move the band closer in style to Jimmy Eat World. On the downside: lyrics that even a mopey 15-year old might find clichéd, if not a little stalker-ish (“I called you 46 times/And you answered on the 47th”). 

Did you know? When not serenading the Hot Topic crowd, NFG moonlight as the International Superheroes of Hardcore, a “funny” tough-guy punk band. ISOH released their only album, “Takin’ It Ova!” as a bonus CD on the 2008 New Found Glory EP “Tip of the Iceberg."

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