Good Riddance

My Republic

[2/5] The years have not been kind to Good Riddance. While the band’s first three full-lengths are hardcore classics, in the years since, acts such as Strike Anywhere have taken the group’s melodic-hardcore hybrid to new levels, while Santa Cruz’s finest have stayed relatively stagnant. My Republic isn’t much different: A third of the songs sound like Bad Religion (“Out Of Mind,” “Torches And Tragedies); a handful more sound like NOFX (“Texas,” “Darkest Days”); and, with the exception of the standout pop-punk track “Boise,” the band fail to establish a distinctive identity with the remainder of the disc. Like the past five Good Riddance discs, My Republic is vaguely political, generically catchy and technically feasible-but in an oversaturated punk marketplace, that’s just not enough anymore. (FAT WRECK CHORDS) Jonah Bayer