Why did I buy The War On Errorism? Well, I had been hearing about it for a couple months back when it was supposed to be called Our Second Best Album and that’s when I was really psyched about it. I was sort of hesitant to buy it though because I thought it was going to be more of the stuff that was in their last release Pump Up The Valuum, but thankfully, I was very wrong about this record and it turns out to be one of their best CDs yet.
Okay, okay, in every NOFX review I say that one of their CDs is one of their best but to tell you the truth, I think all their releases are my favorites and I can listen to each one and again and again and still love it so yes, this is one of my favorite NOFX albums and my goal by the end of this review is to tell you why.
The War On Errorism is basically an all out criticize-fest of the president. The cover tells you this from first glance showing a drawing of George W. Bush with clown makeup behind an American flag and NOFX’s logo in big letters. The enhanced CD is awesome and full of crap (four separate things). There’s a music video for Franco Un-American (one of the best songs of the CD), a live concert of Idiot Son of an A*shole (Guess who this song is about…), a sample of the upcoming documentary on the presidential election called Unprecedented, and an introduction by the band themselves, which is sort of funny to see.
Something that I just love in this CD is how different it is from the other releases. Instead of the simple melodies and sort of predictable choruses, you get odd riffs and different choruses that are really a big change from the regular NOFX. Also, something that’s really weird is that NOFX uses percussion, saxophones, keyboards, and cellos in the CD. That’s how different they have become and it’s for the better.
Comedy has returned for this album and good humor at that. There’s a song called She’s Nubs about a woman with no limbs and the things that Fat Mike sings about in the song answer all the questions that you might have had about that subject. Also, he talks a lot about music in this record. In We Got 2 Jealous Agains the subject matter is all about music and makes a ton of references to some of my favorite bands like Minor Threat, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, and The Sex Pistols. Also, the sexual humor has been tuned down in The War On Errorism. There’s no Liza/Louise song in this release or anything of the matter. This may be different for some people, but I think it’s a huge maturity for the band.
Like in 45 or 46 Songs That Weren’t Good Enough To Go On Our Other Records, the booklet is very engaging and well though of. First is a written introduction by the band and then the lyrics come in with different fonts on each song and one song each page with specific designs for each song. Each song’s fonts are legible and very easy to read and to finish off the CD are thank you’s and the credits. On the back of the booklet is a funny picture of our president acting like a clown and looking really stupid and ridiculous with kids flipping him off and making faces at him. Above the picture it says “Somewhere In Texas There Is A Village Without Its Idiot” and I think it’s such straightforward message and a good one at that.
All the songs on this CD are my favorites but my two favorites would have to be Franco Un-American and Whoops, I OD’d. Whoops, I OD’d sounds like it would be a humorous track but it really isn’t. The soft bass and guitar make the song full of sorrow and sadness especially in Fat Mike’s voice. The song is slow and with the really heartfelt lyrics makes you want to bring tears to your eyes. This is one of NOFX’s slowest songs and one of their best they’ve ever created. It remains like this the whole song.
Franco Un-American starts out with sort of radio-friendly lyrics but then heads into masterful lyrics that are all about criticizing America. The music video furthers this view. The chorus that they came up with in this song is one of the catchiest they’ve ever come up with, even though it’s simple. It also makes reference to Howard Zinn, Michael Moore, and Noam Chomsky, three of the brightest people on earth. The last parts of the song when Fat Mike is gently singing the chorus while the percussion is going is certainly a highlight of the CD.
Any not good songs? None at all, but there is one that’s a little annoying for me and that’s Anarchy Camp. The saxophones on this song are really good, but can sometimes be out of place (which is what happens a lot with Less Than Jake for some reason). The lyrics are okay and sort of humorous about going to a camp that’s made for anarchy and starting tons of havoc. The only thing that drags this song down a little is that the guitars can get sort of annoying with their squeakiness, but it’s not a bad song and I still hear it every time through.
As one of the last things that I want to say about this CD, I would like to say that this is very different from the rest of the CDs and sort of jazzier and much poppier. It’s a good thing though and not like Pump Up The Valuum. Okay, so some things are mimicked in this CD from the previously mentioned one, but this CD is way superior and as one of the last things to say, every rock and roll fan should buy this album. NOFX has done the impossible. They have reinvented themselves Madonna-style.
The thing that I just love about this CD and the reason that you should definitely get this record and not listen to all of the previously said things is that you can listen to this CD again and again and not get bored almost like Punk In Drublic. The variety of each track and the sentimentality of each track is wonderful and the only reason why you should by it and for the price of 12 bucks at BestBuy, it’s an awesome deal but if I had it my way, I would buy it for twenty bucks because it’s worth that much.
1. The Separation of Church and Skate [5/5]
2. The Irrationality of Rationality [4/5]
3. Franco Un-American [5/5]
4. Idiots Are Taking Over [4/5]
5. She’s Nubs [4/5]
6. Mattersville [4/5]
7. Decom-Posuer [5/5]
8. Medio-Core [5/5]
9. Anarchy Camp [3/5]
10. American Errorist (I Hate Hate Haters) [5/5]
11. We Got 2 Jealous Agains [5/5]
12. 13 Stiches [4/5]
13. Re-Gaining Consciousness [4/5]
14. Whoops, I OD’d [5/5]
Jason
Americans are so concerned with their own personal safety that they’ve turned their backs on this country and the planet. They put an American flag on their SUV and figure they’ve done their part. ~ Fat Mike
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