Quindecim

Issue date: 10/13/04 Section: Arts and Entertainment

Good Charlotte breaks out of the pop-punk genre with mature music and lyrics.

Waldorf, MD is not exactly punk rock. Rather than CBGB, there is a Best Buy. Replacing a smoky, counter culture bar is an Olive Garden. The closest thing to risqué behavior is a strip club called "Choo Choo's" that advertises with a sign that simply reads "Dancers." 'Nuff said. The utter blandness of Waldorf, half an hour from my home in southern Maryland, makes the fact that it produced one of the most fun and enlivening contemporary bands, Good Charlotte, even more remarkable.

The boys from Waldorf are back with their third record, The Chronicles of Life and Death, full of infectious songs while pushing the boundaries of pop punk. Chronicles demonstrates that Good Charlotte is unafraid of experimenting with musical styles outside their familiar genre.

Chronicles begins in a rather, well, unexpected way. No words can describe the utter shock you will feel when you hear the first track, "Once Upon A Time: The Battle of Life & Death." The song is aptly titled, for the hymn-like chants and swelling lush string orchestration reminds me of a song played during the battle between good and evil during a glossy Hollywood horror movie.

I had to remind myself that this was Good Charlotte, a band known for hard-driving guitar riffs and amusing lyrics. Once I unfurrowed my brow and picked my jaw up off the floor, I realized that with one simple song, Good Charlotte achieved something quite remarkable and rare in contemporary music.

The kids from Waldorf made me reassess some assumptions I had taken for granted. "Once Upon A Time" demonstrates that artists can and should write music not in their media labeled genre, and this departure from the norm can be quite refreshing. While Chronicles' first track is an extreme example of dabbling in something new, the rest of the album proves this idea quite convincingly and is just darn fun.

Chronicles' best example of genre-busting creativity is "I Just Wanna Live," a track that shows punks can rap. The song's hip-hop flavor and Joel Madden's convincing and confident rap radically break away from any pre-conceived notions one might have about Good Charlotte's musical limitations. The introductory poppy chords seamlessly switch to the chorus' ripping guitar riffs and the high-pitched vocals, proclaiming "I Just Wanna Live!"

The most emotionally charged song on the album is "Mountain," a hard-driving track that makes up for clichéd lyrics with a rich, musical depth that Good Charlotte has previously not shown. It has the feeling of a solid, epic, power pop song but displays an emotional sincerity not usually attributed to the band.

The first single off Chronicles, "Predictable," is so incredibly catchy that it is a predictable first single. The song aptly shows Good Charlotte's artistic progress since the band's last album, The Young and the Hopeless. The chorus is nothing special but the intensely emotional performance gives the listener goose bumps. The bridge is spoken, or rather screamed, and the energy is contagious.

"We Believe" is this album's "Hold On," tugging at your heart strings with inspiring and honest lyrics. The song explains that we all share the same human emotions. What could have been a sappy song with the unoriginal chorus "We believe in this love," is rescued with a mature instrumental arrangement and a passionate vocal performance. "We Believe" surpasses "Hold On" in its universal message and musical integrity.

From its inexplicable and boundary-breaking beginning track to its last note, The Chronicles of Life and Death demonstrates Good Charlotte's artistic growth. It is a CD that you can play from beginning to end and get a bigger smile on your face with each track. Waldorf should be proud.

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