Coming off their last album, Green Day could have done almost anything to appease fans suffering post-Father of All... With their fourteenth effort, Saviors, the three-piece punk-rock heroes forget their pop experiments to entirely evoke their origins, sounding closest to non-conceptual collections like Insomniac, Nimrod, and Revolution Radio. The decades have churned out a different kind of Green Day compared to their initial heydays, but longtime fans will feel most at peace, if not overjoyed, with Saviors.
The Essential Bridge for the Masses Between Modern Punk and Rock Is, At the Very Least, Not Dead Yet
As you might expect with any 21st-century Green Day release, Saviors is full of power chord strumming, vocal hooks, and bandleader Billie Joe Armstrong’s trademark nasal presence. Filling out and bulking up the sound makes for an instant upgrade from its thin-sounding predecessor, but the songs are as well-constructed as anything following American Idiot. Since that record, Armstrong and his rhythm section have more insistently added a commercial predilection via his power pop influences, still audible here and likely for the rest of his career.
Even with the anti-MAGA shoutout that has graced the iconic anthem “American Idiot” live for years, Green Day’s music seems endlessly content with remaining inoffensive. Never again will Green Day make a punk album; it would not be genuine for Armstrong’s songwriting progression nor the diehard fans who have stayed through troubled times. Green Day can only rage against the machine as much as the average wealthy American can while maintaining their societal position. The elderly punk sentiment, while not deterring their audience, mildly infects the experience of listening to Saviors, leaving fans and disbelievers with the same stance as when they started.
Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day / Shutterstock
‘Saviors’ Shifts Green Day From Bad Back to Standard
As such, the expected power ballads and regressive tendencies that pepper Saviors still have some pleasing moments to keep everyone in decent standing with Green Day. This album seems like gold compared to Father of All…, but the first single, “The American Dream Is Killing Me,” and fan hit “Dilemma” stand out amid a monotony that channels through many Green Day releases. For a band that has spanned the scope of punk and rock to make two of the most enduring albums of the genres on both sides of the year 2000, the swinging back and forth between revitalized and tired has landed in the former this time, and for that, all who listen to Saviors will be grateful.
Unoriginal streaks throughout songs like “Goodnight Adeline” and legacy rhapsodizing on the title track aside, Saviors ends up just on the positive side of adequate for Green Day. Nothing here rivals even one second of American Idiot, and few will put this near their favorite albums for the year outside of honoring the band’s classic status. Saviors rings out with the statement that Green Day has not given up yet, and they might have a better album if they can blend their strengths in affectingly original ways. With that in mind, we can only hope this is another link in a long chain of a periodically great band, not the final gasp before the deep dive into contentment.
Saviors is streaming now wherever you listen to music.
