Sum 41

Does This Look Infected? (2002)

kraze.

I know this review will cause quite a few "SuMm FORTY1 ISZ N0TT 4 Pu'nX" but lets do this anyway, yey.

This is Sum 41's third release, the first being an EP and the second being a 3 million selling full-length.
Sum 41 have the focus on so called "MTV-punk", with a few twists from hair-metal and rap (no, it's far away from nu-metal).
I have to be honest, "Does this look infected" does have some good tunes on it, actually, all of them are very listenable except from a few whom just seems pretty bland (I heard that "duh"..).

I really had no expectations because about a year ago I heard that "Sum 41 were going emotional for next record" so I was expecting just another Saves The Day copycat CD.
But when I got the CD, I popped it in, and seriously, the first tune is one of the most boring and bland songs ever, and this almost made me turn it off…
but I'm glad I didn't, the second track, "Over My Head", made me nod my head and hope that the rest of the CD were going to be like this.
More specific about the song, it's your usual Sum 41 song, just a little more "mature", if that's a word that fits into a Sum 41 review.

"My Direction" the third track, kinda took a small step back, it's a little too poppy (in a bad way), and seems pretty bland. The lyrics don't catch me at all
I'm sure you have heard "Still Waiting" by now, and I KNOW that some of you are secretly liking this song but don't want to tell anybody because you "want to keep your punk rock cred".
Following the trend of the Sum 41 releases, next comes a short, hard, fast and more agressive song, think "T.H.T" from half hour of power and "Never wake up" from "All killer no filler".

By now, we're on track 6, which goes under the interesting title "Yesterday.com". This song kinda grabs me, it's what I wanted this cd to be like, it's catchy, varies all over the "Sum 41 style", from poppunk, to rap, to hair-metal.
After this, it's "all messed up". This tune makes the cd take another step back, it's like the poppy stuff from "all killer no filler", nothing new here.
Yeay! Here comes "Mr. Amsterdam", it's a fast, upbeat tune, I like it, it has some nice screams and metal-riffs. period.

We're on track 9 now, this is yet another track I like, very typical for Sum 41, which equals nice (bring the comments, bring em on!)
"Hyper-insomnia" is great, I like it when Sum 41 play this way, they should've done it like this on every track on the cd.

Yeah, what about the lyrics then? They're not whiny and about getting dumped, they're just what you can expect from them.
Next song, "Billy Spleen" is like the good tracks on this cd, fast, upbeat, just plain great.
Now to the last song (I know some of you mutter "thank god" now). It's called "Hooch", it's pretty good, i like the new direction they have on the good tunes on this cd. "Hooch" is great until after the bridge where it slows down and doesn't go up. It left a bad taste in my mouth, but then I just went back listening to the tracks I like, and I like this CD. It's not amazing (except from a few tracks), but it's comfortable to listen to, that's really all I can say.