Album Reviews

- by Tom Dumarey

Over 25 years into their career and five years since their last album, Good Riddance is back with 12 scorching new songs that sound like... well, Good Riddance.

Speed, melody and aggression. Those three characteristics have always functioned as the cornerstones of Good Riddance’s sound. It’s a sound they have perfected long ago and one that they never ever deviate from. Top it off with Russ Rankin’s instantly recognizable vocals that spew righteous anger and deliver social and political commentary and you have yourself another solid Good Riddance album.

That isn’t to say every single song on ‘Thoughts And Prayers’ sounds exactly alike. Singgle ‘Don’t Have Time’ and ‘Wish You Well’ are especially poppy, ‘Precariat’ thrives on speed and ‘No King But Caesar’ is among the album’s most aggressive. But let’s be honest, the differences between songs are relatively small and it’s not like anyone is going into a new Good Riddance album expecting sonic experiments.

What you do get is classic Good Riddance spread out over twelve new songs. And some days that is exactly what you need.

Track listing:

1. Edmund Pettus Bridge
2. Rapture
3. Don't Have Time    
4. Our Great Divide
5. Wish You Well
6. Precariat
7. No King but Caesar
8. Who We Are
9. No Safe Place
10. Pox Americana
11. Lo Que Sucede
12. Requisite Catastrophes