Green Day - !UNO! (2012)

First off, NO I do not know how to turn one of those explenation marks upside down. That is why I just said f**k it and made both explenation marks normal. Enough of my incompetence on the keyboard. "!UNO!" is the first of three album released in 2012 by the american pop-punk band Green Day. Really not sure why they would make three albums in such short amount of time. Maybe they had to many ideas in their heads that had to get out. Maybe it is a concept series (which I highly doubt). Maybe they got this idea while getting high. I do not know and I do not care. Ever since the mega success called "American Idiot", Green Day has been riding a spiral that leads the band towards the pop world. I do not even see the band as punk anymore. They have totally lost it. So my expectations for "!UNO!" was very low, especially since their last album, "21st Century Breakdown", was a complete mess.

There was a tiny part of myself that hoped that the band would go back to their glory days. The days where they actually were a punk band. Not surprisingly, that little part died as soon I heard this album. It is not an horrible album but it is certainly not punk. The song that is closest is probably the first song on this album ("Nuclear Family"). It is a good catchy song that has a decent amount of speed. Another song that catches my good side is the fun, but very repetetive, "Let Yourself Go". But there ends the fun stuff. Most of the other songs are either boring or just completly weird. Take my advice and do not listen to these following songs. "Oh Love" (never heard a more boring first single ever. And first singles are usually boring), "Sweet 16" (lyrics is just complete garbage) and last, but certainly not least, "Kill The DJ" (WTF!! This is not Green Day. It is something from a shitty teen movie). I am pretty confident that Billie Joe, Mike and Tre was very high when writing these songs. And btw, I wish Billie Joe all luck when he is on rehab. I though have to admit that what he did at the Iheartradio festival. Yeah right he is no Justin F*****g Bieber. He deserves so much more (Billie Joe, not Bieber).

But if we look in the overall picture, "!UNO!" is an album that fits in the middle of the pack. Despite having three of the worst songs Green Day ever has put out on an album, "!UNO!" is like a light version of "American Idiot". It has some hit songs but the material on this album is not enough to bring it all home. I am very curious what the upcoming albums "!DOS" and "!TRE!" has in store. Hopefully they bring more to the chopping block than "!UNO!" did. But one thing was good with this album. It was better the the bands previous one.

Songs worthy of recognition: Let Yourself Go, Nuclear Family

Rating: 5,5/10 Rusty James