New Wave - Against Me!
User Score
6.9 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 50 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 35 out of 50
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 50
  3. Negative: 11 out of 50

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  1. AGB
    Aug 8, 2007
    4
    New Wave represents Against Me! moving up in the music world. This album sounds ultra produced and radio friendly which is a far cry from the raw anguish that Gabels voice used to be. These boys are moving on up and who can blame them for cashing in? It is still decent and still new material, but has no where near the feeling of Re-inventing Axl Rose or Searching for a Former Clarity.
  2. EricC
    Jul 30, 2007
    2
    If you want to really see how badly a band can sell out, buy this album. Went from being one of the best gritty rock bands out there to being this; just another alternative band. Hunt down their early stuff to see what they were and what they still could have been.
  3. noahs
    Aug 3, 2007
    2
    The rating of this album doesn't have anything to do with "selling out" or "changing sounds." The horrible rating reflects the sub par performance and song writing on the album. There is not one song that stands out, and the ones that try to are so inferior to other AM! songs that they are not even worth listening to twice. It just goes to show with the "critics" giving this album praise, these people do not have any connection to the real music and they are partly the reason why we suffer through other such acclaimed acts as Fall Out Boy or Red Jump Suit. So why listen to these people, listen to the album and you can tell that the songs are not that great. This is not to say that AM! can still bring their best on the next attempt, in fact I'm counting on it… Expand
  4. CorkyB
    Aug 3, 2007
    3
    It's a slick pop album, with a punk sensibility. How cute. While many will decry that the dissent comes from people not wanting Against Me! to be on a major, there are some who held out hoping AM! would follow through on this album as they had done in the past. However, what we got was a pop album in which the nuance and strength of Gabel's lyrics seems thrown to the wayside in favor of Franz Ferdinand's catchiness. Do yourself a favor: if you want to save the radio, get your local station to play "As the Eternal Cowboy".… Expand
  5. JaredF.
    Oct 24, 2007
    4
    There are hits, there are misses, and then there's Against Me!'s New Wave. Teetering on verge of patchiness and cheese, this album hurts my heart to listen to. Self-appointed master of the obvious Tom Gabel takes us on a lyrical journey through the annals of a Tony Robbins self-help video collection. With quips like, "Stop! Take some time to think. Figure out what's important to you..." and "You have to fight to stay in control of the situation." who needs enemies? If simply reading these sophomoric lyrics doesn't make you cringe, you have no soul. Granted, Gabel's signature poetic angst does shine through intermittently, I still have to say it gets lost in the overwhelming mediocrity of this album. I am a big fan of Against Me! (Is there a Band you traveled 1200 miles to see?) but I believe they CAN, HAVE, and hopefully (with crossed fingers and about ten nickels in a wishing well) WILL do better.… Expand
  6. TannerL
    Dec 6, 2007
    4
    I have tried and tried and tried but "New Wave" just doesn't grab me like any previous Against Me did. The First couple of songs started with promise but led into "Thrash Unreal" which really threw me off with the U2 style guitar effects. Followed eventually with an un-even duet with one of the girls from tegan and Sara and later a dance punk throw-away song that would make even Franz Ferdenand blush. The rest of the album eventually fumbles into a smattering of okay but ultimately forgettable songs that never really get a foot-hold in the mind.… Collapse
  7. Seriously?
    Aug 15, 2007
    3
    In the August issue of Spin, Brain Raferty calls this "the best rock album in ages" and "the most invigorating, zeitgeist-capturing album in years", therefor inadvertently revealing the only other bands he listens to are Coldplay and the Killers. This album is nothing even close to special. The best track is "Thrash Unreal", which sounds like a poor approximation of a particularly unimaginative Hold Steady song.… Expand
  8. DanaC.
    Feb 25, 2008
    0
    The reason I found this album so disappointing is that it is hard to take them seriously after they sold out so hard. The lyrics are still pretty well written and meaningful, but I can't see them as anything but empty now that Against Me! has turned into a slick corporate "punk" band. Tell me, how could you compromise yourself like this?
  9. EinarJ.
    May 7, 2008
    1
    I have heard about Against Me! for a while now, but never took the time to look at them. Without having seen any previous album by AM!, I can say, i hated this album. Not because i'm some totaly one-eyed genre geek, i listen to everything fairly. This album was just plain mediocre and typical in so many ways. It's painful to see Spin let it beat 'In Rainbows' a masterpiece of our time, and that beat a decent Arcade Fire album. God, i hate this album, sure it's got some grit, but it's so unoriginal and cliche. I was going over 'Raw' by Lindsay Lohan' and, however this is possible, found it to be a more fulfilling effort. Awful album.… Expand
  10. adaml
    Dec 22, 2007
    3
    First of all, this is not punk, so stop calling it that. Secondly, this is their worst album ever (and I did like Searching), made exponentially worse by the hackjob Butch Vig did on the band. They're all but screwed unless they go back to No Idea, or PlanitX. Tom's lost his lyrical punch, which is what kills the band. These songs don't have bite; they're no different than anything else on the radio now, save White People For Peace which is a fine song. People will argue that Tom destroys the music industry with his lyrics, but I'll tell them to listen to What We Worked For and then tell me if Up The Cuts really has that lyrical poignancy they thought. If they wanted to mellow out, that's great, they should go all acoustic and be a folk band or something and do what made them great in the first place. But this half electric chimey guitar crap has to stop. They're the best folk punk band up to this point in time, but as an alternative rock band they're sub-par at best. The U2 comparison wasn't that far off. They're at their best when they're uncontrolled, pissed off, and either folk or punk or both. This is just bad pop music.… Expand
  11. hitlerg
    Jul 19, 2007
    0
    this album sucks my german cock. their commercialistitc penis dribbles won't even make my mom cum.
  12. BrianS
    Jul 23, 2007
    3
    So hey! Who remembers Chumbawamba? Band develops devoted underground following. Band gets courted by major labels. Band decides that everything they've said before would reach more people if their actions totally contradicted it. Every song on this album is Against Me!'s "Tubthumping." Their sound has lost that raw, folky edge that made them so cool in the first place in favor of slick pop-punk production that Fall Out Boy would be envious of. Their lyrics have lost both their heart and their subtlety, and somehow, didn't manage to even hold onto a scrap of coherence. Basically, if you love punk rock drinking music but hate tin whistles, or if you think U2 is the greatest political rock band of all time, you'll LOVE this record. I'll pretty much stick the old stuff and forget this band exists by the end of the year with everyone else.… Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
74 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 16 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 16
  3. Negative: 0 out of 16
  1. All Music Guide
    80
    New Wave is crisp, direct, and sharp. It's clean, but not glossy; it's defiant; it's brash; it's heartfelt.
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  2. Blender
    80
    Superproducer Butch Vig is around to help transform Gabel’s strident leftism and occasionally clumsy choruses (e.g., "Protest Songs! In response to military aggression!") into swing-state-ready stadium rock.
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  3. New Musical Express (NME)
    80
    Their best album to date.
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