Green Day's Revolution Pulsates With Energy

The pop punk colossus that is Green Day continues to chug along fiercely. "Revolution Radio", the title track lifted from the current project, contains all the focused firepower you've come to expect from Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tre Cool. Theirs is a supercharged voyage that doesn't waste a drop of energy on frivolous navel gazing. They've managed to come a long way since the days of "Dookie" but haven't lost the hunger that put them on the musical map in the first place. As usual there's this certain societal intelligence adorning their latest work. Lines like "We are revolution radio operation no control sound like the utterances of a guy who knows his actual ability to influence change doesn't extend very far. His vocals continue to brazenly cut through the artificial clutter of present day life. Tre Cool finds his electric sweet spot behind the drums. The video shows off how completely in the moment they are. As you recall from gems like the appropriately labeled "American Idiot", appropriate meaning ideal for the Trump era slogging we're being forced to live through, this threesome knows how to propel its messages into fourth gear in short order. Billie gets an astute dig in at our moron saturated social media era which is more and more resembling the backdrop of communication for Lord of the Flies except that, in this not so brave new world, everybody who thinks they have something profound to say holds the conch of attention getting. "Revolution Radio" throws a spotlight on what Green Day does best... fire off salvos of brief yet weighty material that can make you think and chortle simultaneously. What lofty heights haven't this music dynamo missed out on. If Green Day hasn't managed to figure out that they've arrived at this juncture in its career then the parade of respect and adulation must have crept past them without their even bothering to notice. For this reviewer "Revolution Radio" fires one hell of a mighty shot off the port bow.