Good Charlotte - Cardiology (ALBUM REVIEW)

Click READ MORE to check out my review of the new Good Charlotte album.


Good Charlotte is one of those bands that hear a lot about how their first album was okay but the ones that followed were meh. Then they stuck around long enough for some of the older fans to start reminiscing about those good old days and for new potential listeners not to be too familiar with the lyrics “Girls don’t like boys, girls like cars and money…” After a mixed reception for the band’s last album Good Mourning Rival, which found the band experimenting with dance sounds, they have returned with Cardiology. This is an album that Joel Madden stated would have nothing dance-y on it.

Cardiology basically offers fans a pop album that teeters somewhere between the want to be an alternative radio band like Third Eye Blind or Fountains Of Wayne to an alternative punkish band like Eve 6. The result is successful if you want that kind of album. In the end it just feels like the band are once again jumping sounds to a new genre and trying to see if that will gain them any headway.

Tracks like “Sex On The Radio” remind me a lot of “Stacy’s Mom” by Fountains Of Wayne with cheesy lyrics and overall marketability. It is probably the highlight of the record. “Standing Ovation” finds Madden’s vocals in a similar style to someone like Rob Thomas or Stephen Jenkins.

Overall, I would say if you are a Good Charlotte fan, you should be pleased with the album. If you did not like the dance vibe of Good Morning Revival, but enjoyed the other albums you might like this one. Good Charlotte have found a more mature sound on this one, maybe not lyrically but musically they are trying, but at the end of listening to this one it just feels like a taxing listen. Modern rock radio might have single potential with this album. Lyrically, it is a little too cheesy for me to enjoy really. It sounds like a band trying to find a sound that will work for them, as they grow older. It is a better album than their last album, it may be a better album than their last couple of albums, but I do not think it will sway the haters enough to jump on board anytime soon.