CD Review: New Found Glory

Coming Home
By Catherine McGlinchy

Almost two and a half years since their last album release of Catalyst in 2004, New Found Glory has produced another album for their track record. Coming Home, the seventh album by New Found Glory to date, was released on Sept. 19.

New Found Glory began a musical career in Coral Springs, Fla., with their first E.P., It’s All About The Girls, back in 1997. Followed two years later by their first album Nothing Gold Can Stay, the band formed a sound distinctive only to themselves.

Fans of New Found Glory appreciated the lyrics filled with angst about relationships and fueled by everyday frustrations. This used to be the band to turn to when your relationship and social status just weren’t working out for you.

Nearly a decade since the start of New Found Glory, the band seems to have put their boyhood troubles behind them. After declaring in 2004 that things were looking to be “All Downhill From Here,” lead singer Jordan Pundik is now singing about love and fate. With titles like “Hold My Hand,” “Connected” and “Too Good To Be,” the “old school” fans of the band are in for a lyrical surprise.

What could possibly be the last album for New Found Glory, Coming Home has a completely different sound than anything this band has ever produced before. Rather than the fake and computer-generated sound that New Found Glory adopted for Catalyst, it’s obvious the band concentrated on instrumental development and configuration for Coming Home.

The first single off of the album, “It’s Not Your Fault,” asks a special lady out there “…so please stop your crying now.” A catchy tune, this track even includes the beat of a tambourine. However, fans accustomed to tracks like “Better Off Dead,” and “Forget My Name,” might not take too lightly to the new sound.

I believe this album has the potential to appeal to a larger fan base than any album previous to it. Seeing how far they’ve come and how much they have developed, New Found Glory is definitely a band that deserves the accreditation.