Unglued Reviews

Goldfinger’s self-titled 1996 debut album spawned the era-defining ska-punk single Here In Your Bedroom, but the band switched tack when the third-wave ska revival crashed, almost completely forsaking any ska influence on releases after 1997’s Hang Ups, with increasingly diminishing returns.

With Hello Destiny, however, Goldfinger have promised a revival of their heyday, complete with the return of early guitarist Charlie Paulson and cover art that mimics that of their debut – the album even ends with a quote from Mable, a song off the self-titled.

With this in mind, things begin promisingly with the pop-punk of One More Time (even if frontman John Feldmann doesn’t realise that the uber-polished style he’s used as a producer with acts such Hilary Duff doesn’t actually suit his own band all that well) and Get Up, a horn-infused ska ditty that makes you wonder why they ever abandoned the genre. Goodbye is punchy, and the classic Goldfinger reggae-ska of If I’m Not Right finds Feldmann appropriately singing, “I’m the guy from way back when”.

With the flavourless War, however, proceedings start to go downhill. Bury Me is forgettable, the best thing that can be said about the Paulson-sung hardcore thrasher Not Amused is that it’s short, and by Handjobs For Jesus (a screamo-influenced track featuring Bert McCracken which bizarrely switches to country gospel) it seems like “going back to their roots” was just a marketing claim to erase memories of 2005’s poorly performing Disconnection Notice. In fact, winsome How Do You Do It is the only cut that makes it worth listening to the second half of the album.

The lacklustre results shouldn’t be a surprise: Goldfinger have been on a downward spiral for years. It’s just the signs that this could have been a return to form that make it hurt. If this is Destiny, let’s hear it for free will.

Owen Heitmann