★★
2016 marks 30 years since Green Day first began.
Somehow, some way, the East Bay natives have managed to stay pertinent to successive generations, be it through brattish pop-punk or politically conscious arena rock.
After a few years away, the amps are back up to 11 and the name Green Day is once again up in lights. It’s at this point things start to feel a little familiar: much like every release following 2004’s seminal American Idiot, the hype has built up and failed to substantiate in Revolution Radio itself. There are moments, certainly, in which the trio stand their ground – the title track springs to mind, as does the entertaining ‘Too Dumb To Die’ – but the album is predominantly marred by songs that are either lifeless and bland (‘Still Breathing’) or sprouting some of the band’s worst-ever lyrics (see ‘Bang Bang’ for “I got my photobomb / I got my Vietnam”). Try as they might, the momentum just never picks up.
Revolution Radio shoots for the moon but ultimately ends up floating aimlessly above the stars. The revolution will not be televised, and nor will it be sparked by a faded-star band that is unquestionably old enough to know better.
Green Day’sRevolution Radiois out now and available through Reprise/Warner.
