• Record Label: Sony
  • Release Date: Oct 5, 2004
Metascore
53

Mixed or average reviews - based on 16 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 16
  2. Negative: 2 out of 16
  1. Their musical gifts haven’t left them... and their overwrought yet empathetic lyrics signify that their bandwagon jumping is misguided rather than crass.
  2. Blender
    60
    Welcome to tonight's Very Special Episode of pop-punk. [Nov 2004, p.130]
  3. Alternative Press
    60
    Good Charlotte have obviously put a lot of effort and imagination into Chronicles, and if it comes off as slightly awkward in parts, well, isn't that part of growing up? [Nov 2004, p.135]
  4. Good Charlotte have hooks for days and the fun, gloomy Life and Death sounds like a moody missing link between Fountains of Wayne and Thrice.
  5. Beyond some rich-and-famous irony, not a single suburban detail soils an hour of good intentions. And you know the music overreaches too.
  6. Good Charlotte's confessionals are typical teenage moans, and their music second-hand Green Day.
  7. Rolling Stone
    40
    They falter by attempting to stray from the formula they've mastered. [28 Oct 2004, p.100]
  8. Q Magazine
    40
    It's nothing if not ambitious... [but] they simply don't have the depth, or the authority, to pull it off. [Dec 2004, p.143]
User Score
7.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 117 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 82 out of 117
  2. Negative: 28 out of 117
  1. May 6, 2011
    9
    I grew up with GC. I love them. This cd is my childhood. It's there best cd and they will never come abck to this stuff again. They justI grew up with GC. I love them. This cd is my childhood. It's there best cd and they will never come abck to this stuff again. They just won't. This cd is deep and sad. it's a beautiful album and i will not stop loving it. No matter what GC is today. Full Review »
  2. Andrea
    Aug 4, 2009
    5
    The record has bad songs, I could save only three-four tracks. Not the best by this band, only a commercial product.
  3. Paul
    Nov 24, 2007
    1
    I bought this album as an impressionable 13-year old when it first came out. I didn't enjoy it much at the time, and upon returning, I bought this album as an impressionable 13-year old when it first came out. I didn't enjoy it much at the time, and upon returning, realise what a humourless, soulless turd it is. The pre-packaged predictability, the psuedo-goth lyrics (apparently free of irony in songs such as 'The World is Black') and the microwaved, rehashed power chords all reek of product. The transparent punk facade only adds further insult to the listener's intelligence. Album number five might as well be titled: 'My Daddy Left Me But At Least I Have A Platinum Record'. Full Review »