Catalyst

Hell hath no fury like a punk rocker scorned. Such is the lesson of the fourth full-length from New Found Glory, which spends the better part of 14 tracks unleashing a torrent of romantic disillusionment over a rush of catchy riffs. Earnest refrains like "You must not have a heart/Have nothing in your chest" are common, but it's frontman Jordan Pundik's nasally whine that makes this feel like a punk rock pity party. NFG are musically one-dimensional, lodged in the narrow gap between Blink-182 and Jimmy Eat World. Granted, they do their one dimension well: "All Downhill From Here" careens from guitar-driven stomping into a soaring melodic chorus; "Truth of My Youth" is an impassioned harmonic blitz driven by Cyrus Bolooki's aerobic drumming workout. But save for an entreaty to a stubborn friend and a predictable rant against the media, almost every tune here finds Pundik mooning about the girl who got away. Get over it, dude. She's not coming back.