No Use for a Name - The Feel Good Record of the Year

NUFAN still continues to evolve, like it or not. I like it.

If you weren't a fan of "Hard Rock Bottom," or probably more specifically, "Keep Them Confused," then there's a decent chance you won't be a huge fan of this album. I, on the other hand, love those two previously stated albums, and I love this one. Here's what to expect from this cd:
This album contains the most slow songs yet from NUFAN, I think four. If you don't like the acoustic sound, then you may not be into those tracks.
The first song, "Biggest Lie," is their hardest rocking and one of their best songs in a long time, but the album's intensity never reaches that hard and fast again.
So if you like straight-forward rock songs with a mostly solid pace throughout and great melodies, then this is the album for you.
I think a lot of NUFAN fans need to realize that we aren't going to get another album like "Making Friends" or "Leche Con Carne," and to stop expecting that type of album. NUFAN keeps a lot of the punk ethos present in their lyrics, but the music itself has been replaced by more mid-tempo stuff, rather than machine gun drumbeats and minute-and-a-half long punk songs.
But if you can move beyond those expectations and take this album for what it is, a great rock album with their most varied song selection yet, with their ever-increasing talent and ability on display, then you can probably enjoy this album. I love it. October 27, 2008

NUFAN is still a great band.

Although I can understand why people aren't as fond of this CD, as say, More Betterness, I can't help but disagree. I've been a NUFAN fan for a long time, and seen them live numerous times. Perhaps watching them perform these songs live has caused me to be biased, but I thoroughly enjoy all of the songs on this CD.

The Biggest Lie and I Wanna Be Wrong are two of my favorite NUFAN songs ever. Granted the slower songs can really throw the pace off on this album, I think that the faster songs really bring back a lot of energy that they had lost with their last record, which I thought was terrible.

I'm glad that this album has picked up some steam from their last, and I believe that this is a really solid release from No Use For A Name. September 18, 2008

Starts out promising, but runs out of steam

I came across NUFAN in '99, right after More Betterness came out. It's still one of my favorite albums. Making Friends is also a classic, and Leche is pretty good too. I bought Hard Rock and Confused, and was thoroughly dissapointed by both.

To give you an idea of what I'm looking for in a No Use song, some of my NUFAN favorites are Not Your Savior, Coming Too Close, Life Size Mirror, The Answer Is Still No, Invincible, A Postcard Would Be Nice, and Don't Miss the Train.

I picked up this CD without expecting a whole lot, after seeing several other bands I used to love (Goldfinger, Bad Religion, etc) completely lose their appeal with the garbage they've made lately.

It starts out promising, with a fast, rough tone. It doesn't last long, though. The album sounds like NUFAN can't decide what kind of band they are anymore - do they want to sound like Sum 41, do they want to sound like a folksy version of old-school NUFAN, do they want to sound like Foo Fighters?

Mainly, I guess the lyrics don't connect the way they did on the old albums at that point in my life (at least Tony Sly has figured out we don't want to hear him sing about his kids...). And the hooks aren't as good anymore either. Still, there are a few songs that are worth listening to. Meh. July 26, 2008

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