Album Review - Goldfinger - Hello Destiny

You have Self Titled which is one of the best pop punk albums of all time. Followed by Hang Ups which was more ska influenced, followed by Stomping Ground which was full of energy. Open Your Eyes was the beginning of the end, but still gave us a few rocking pop punk tunes, as well as a lot of crappy John Feldmann high voiced-good charlotte wanna-be crap. Then Disconnection Notice was just all John Feldmann high-voiced-good charlotte wanna-be crap.

The follow up album, Hello Destiny is a mix of all 5 albums.

Unfortunately Goldfinger haven't really matured musically and are living in the past, trying to revive what they once had instead of moving on and trying to create something different.

The album had plenty of potential but unfortunately I feel that Goldfinger have lost that magic they once had. Goldfinger aren't staying true to themselves any more, which comes across in this album and I think John is suffering from some severe writers block in the past few years....

01. One More Time - A good start to the CD, a classic pop punk song. It's catchy, its strong and its Goldfinger. The lyrics are really lacking here though.

02. Get Up - Goldfinger are letting you know they have horns back in the band... whoopee... it's a poppy ska/punk song about animal cruelty.

03. Goodbye - This song has grown on me.... After hearing it for a few times it sounds like a classic Goldfinger song. But unfortunately Johns lyric writing skills are really suffering, His writing used to tell a story, but this song is just a bunch of words strung together...

04. Without Me - A nice pop/punk song

05. The Only One - OK This is where the album starts to go downhill. This song has a ska influence, similar to what you'd hear on Hang Ups, but nowhere near as good as anything on Hang Ups. A rather boring song that makes 3 minutes and 34 seconds feel like a lifetime

06. War - The most piss weak politically charged song I've ever heard. Starts off powerful and gets you listening.Again, the lyrics are just terrible. "I will fight for something that I do believe in, but I believe there's nothing here worth fighting for" A great start to the chorus, but then they go and ruin it by following it up with: "The world makes no mistakes, your heart is gonna break, but I'll be there to catch you when you fall, when you fall"What the hell???? Its like John just took that lyric from another love song and through it in to this anti-war song. The way they mixed the backup vocals in the chorus is damn awful. It is over produced and sounds terrible.� I hate this song.

07. How do you do it - A simple punk pop song. A catchy song, but nothing special

08. Bury Me - This song would be good if it wasn't written by a 41 year old... I know its unfair to say that, but really John, you should be writing better stuff than this....... eg. "I know that everythings my fault, so bury me"

09. Not Amused - "Media Media, I'm fuckin sick of ya" Goldfinger seem to throw in a fast punk song on every album, this is the one for Hello Destiny

10. Handjobs for Jesus - This song had so much potential but they go and ruin it by Johns terrible high pitched voice on "Is this life random and meaningless?" This song gets a lot of criticism but I don't mind it, its all over the place, just like Stoming Grounds "The End Of The Day".

11. Free Kevin Kjonaas - A fairly old song thrown on to the album about animal activist & prisoner Kevin Kjonaas. I have nothing against the song

12. Bonus Track - A song for Johns son, Julian... which probably should have never seen the light of day

In conclusion this album is definately worth a listen, I've listened to it at least 10 times and it has grown on me, but it is easily forgettable yet is still better than that terrible Disconnection Notice.... And if Goldfinger are going to be touring this album in your area, I suggest you go, because these guys are a live band, and they still kick ass at it.