Sum 41 - All Killer No Filler
Mercury - 2001 - 35 minutes
The Canuck pop punkers have brightened up MTV no end with their hilarious metal send-up 'Pain for Pleasure', but that's where the laughs end and the yawns begin. With gurning a plenty on the cover and upstart riffs within the grooves there's little to distinguish Sum 41 from every other outfit with key chains, baggy trousers and an inability to find some girl - any girl - who'll stay with them for the duration of a three-minute song.
Their producer, Jerry Finn, has produced albums for the likes of Blink 182 and Green Day and you can almost see Sum 41 turn up in the studio, dumping the records on the console and saying "we want to sound like this". Jerry keeps his side of the bargain - the band however fail to come up with anything as catchy as their Californian counterparts.
'Fat Lip' has already been a hit single and 'In Too Deep' looks set to follow it but the rest of the album would only thrill the most novice buyer. Perhaps in their joy at getting the record out they mixed up the order of the title.
Harry Guerin
Tracklisting: Introduction to Destruction - Nothing on my Back - Never Wake Up - Fat Lip - Rhythms - Motivation - In Too Deep - Summer - Handle This - Crazy Amanda Bunkface - All She's Got - Heart Attack - Pain for Pleasure - Makes No Difference
