Album: Screaming Bloody Murder - Sum 41

It's been four years since Sum 41's last record, Underclass Hero, was on the airwaves. Besides a few songs - namely the title track, Walking Disaster and The Jester (personal favourites) - the album as a whole was a failure, perhaps not sales-wise, but definitely critically. Now though, Screaming Bloody Murder did in fact turn up slightly under the radar. It was only by chance I discovered their new single on Spotify, meaning I probably wouldn't have even noticed it was out. That is a disappointment, because Screaming Bloody Murder is a return to form for Sum 41, not to the punk feel All Killer No Filler gave us, but to Chuck, the album that I think is Sum 41's best.

The album itself is quite heavy on the love aspect, which is expected, as Deryck Whibley must draw a lot of his writing from his life with Avril Lavigne, from their meeting right to their divorce. But, at least for me, the love songs on the record are not a bad thing. Rather than going down the awfully cliché route of singing a ballad, Whibley mixes it up. In “Reason to Believe”, the first track on the album, it goes swiftly from a hard chorus to a soft, piano melody without breaking stride – a pleasant surprise, I found. Contrast that with Crash, a quite obvious love song, separating the trio of songs (Holy Image of Lies, Sick of Everyone and Happiness Machine) that were originally meant to be one 12 minute song called “A Dark Road out of Hell” from the end of the album.  Crash is a pleasant interlude near the end of the album – Whibley, his piano, and accompanying riffs from a guitar in the background.

“A Dark Road out of Hell” is what we’ve come to expect from Sum 41, power chords, straight talking lyrics - back to the old Sum 41. I much prefer this Sum 41 to the slower one, myself, but I did enjoy Crash. In fact having said that, the entire album returned to the Sum 41 of old. Reason to Believe and Screaming Bloody Murder set up a fine opening duo, before heading into Skumf*k, which I’ll talk about later, and right up to Crash it racks out the tunes. What Am I To Say is a highlight of the album, an anthem feel to the chorus, I can very easily imagine the crowd belting the chorus out on their next tour. 

Skumf*k is, quite simply, the best song on the entire album. What Whibley means by “best of luck as the only resident skumf*k” I’m not entirely sure, but the entire song is perfectly made musically, an excellent minute-long intro with acoustic guitars, building up to one of the most catchy chorus’s I’ve heard in a long time. The relentless guitar is breath-taking, before abruptly ending in another piano sequence that never feels out of place - the perfect ending to probably my favourite Sum 41 song since Pieces.

My only gripe with the album is the final song, Exit Song. To me, it was as if they simply put the song in there because they didn’t think Back Where I Belong was a good enough closer, whereas I completely disagree. The lyrics sound like a statement of intent from the four-piece – I have had enough/I’m on my own/for I am back where I belong. In short, Exit Song is a non-event sadly, but that shouldn’t put you off this excellent rebirth of Sum 41.

Sum 41 are indeed back where they belong. They’ve knocked out a sixth album (seventh if you count “All The Good Shit”) that should surely win back the fans that may have been disappointed by Underclass Hero.

4/5.