Sum 41 - Heaven x Hell | Full Album Review

Sum 41's final album before disbanding, Heaven x Hell, is finally out. This album is a huge deal to me, I've been a huge fan of Sum 41 over the years, particularly their albums Underclass Hero and Screaming Bloody Murder. I'm sad they're finishing up, but their new album Heaven x Hell is a celebration of everything they've done.

SUPPORT MY WORK!

READ MY BLOG:

MY PODCASTS:
20th CENTURY BOY Podcast →

Harry Potter & The Boys FAN FICTION Podcast →

Thanks for watching and supporting me, Radio Mike.

[TECfan]

Really enjoyed this album. I think they went out on a bang. Definitely is a celebration of all their music as you said.

[jurgenstrang]

Sum 41 have been my favourite for years. Their music helped me through many tough times

[Tomahertz]

My reaction to the album:
"It was perfect, perfect. Everything down to the last minute details."~Homelander

[codyssmith]

Alright:

1. Johnny Libertine was a scrapped UH track, we have footage of it being played during recordings.

2. Not sure how many who have listened to it will hear how much of Tom Thacker's band, Gob, was sprinkled into the sound here. House Of Liars started life as a track in the works during the SBM era known as "Believe". Screaming Bloody Murder (the song) was originally a Gob track called Panic Attack which was written for Meurtos Vivos, and Deryck reworked it. I think that there are a few melodic beats left over from old Sum and Gob stuff that may have sprinkled their way onto this record, especially elements of Not Quite Myself, Dopamine (yes, it does feel more modern too, but this song's chrous reminds me so much of Gob's "Fed Up"), and even bits of Bad Mistake. None of it doesn't fit the Sum 41 sound, but it feels more in line with what Gob was doing during Foot In Mouth Disease.

3. I'm just happy we got more twin harmonies here throughout, and the fact Deryck brought in a mixer to make sure no audio inconsistencies occurred unlike with 13 Voices was a great decision on their part.

4. Fave songs off each: Bad Mistake for Heaven, Stranger In These Times for Hell. But it's so close....

[Santicazor]

I like this review a lot. It's funny how we relate each song to specific older albums because that shows how versatile this band was over the decades. They were able to put a new style on with almost every album and now we get like a best of, but with brand new songs. I like the album a lot, can listen to it on shuffle without skipping. A feeling I didn't have for order in decline. Dopamine is my absolute favorite, Not Quite Myself comes second.

[bkhunter]

Love Sum. Almost cried when they announced the break up but glad they gave us one last album that had songs that could fit on every album. I Can’t Wait probably my favourite of Heaven. Stranger In These Times blew me away and is hands down my favourite of the album.
Side note, I feel like you could put Radio Silence, Preparasi A Salrie and Rise up in a nice little trilogy of songs to bring together the two sides.
Keen for Deryck’s book to drop this year.

[kyouzavamps]

1.Future primitives sounds like welcome to hell/the people vs
2.time won't wait chorus sounds like simple plan "shut up"
3.bad mistakes sounds like self esteem from offspring
4.you wanted war sounds like wwii in dtli album

[MysticClaws]

Really didn't care for most of Heaven. Bad Mistake is a highlight, Waiting for a Twist is good too and there are another couple solid tracks but for the most part, it just didn't do anything for me. Landmines, Time Won't Wait and Dopamine just remind me of that modern MGK style of pop punk that I just hate, they all sound the same to me. I Can't Wait is a filler track too. I think the songwriting is pretty poor across Heaven too. The songs mostly follow the same structure, the lyrics are often about things like teen love and stuff (which ik is common in pop punk but probably shouldn't be in a modern Sum 41 album where the band are a lot older), there's a lot of recycling of older song lyrics/ideas. For a song that's written about stuff like politics in Underclass Hero and Order in Decline, and heavy personal stuff in albums like Screaming Bloody Murder and 13 Voices, the lyrics in Heaven come off as weak. Seems more like it was written for fans who wanted to hear pop punk in a modern Sum 41 album, which is fine, but it doesn't seem particularly inspired to me.

Hell stands out a lot more to me. It's pretty consistently good. Rise Up and House of Liars are my personal favourites but there isn't really a bad track here. I've seen the cover of Paint It Black get a lot of criticism but that seems to be just because it's a cover, not an original song, which seems silly to me. It's a 20 track album, 1 song being a cover isn't an issue to me. Screaming Bloody Murder is my favourite Sum 41 album and I think there are elements of that album in Hell which I like. Lyrics are better on the Hell side too imo, not the best they've done but far better than on Heaven

[Venm.]

How the fuck did you review it when the album isn't out till Friday

[peytonpiwonka]

Yeah how do you know the full album when it hasn't even fully came out yet lol

[ThatOneSceneDude]

album is mid imo. Landmines is a great tune but five or six songs have the same chord progression on the heaven side. Underclass also has this same problem. The hooks are lacking as well. compare it to dtli or aknf, (even chuck) it is not the same quality. The band has been lacking ever since Greig Nori left.

[alexanderzagula]

This album is the worst they’ve ever made because it’s just mid