Have you ever written an essay for school on a topic that you thought you knew a lot about, but then as you write it, you realize that you don't know enough to write a good essay on it... so you BS the rest to fill in. I know I have done this many, many, many times, so I know how New Found Glory must feel when they were writing songs for Catalyst. They probably wrote a few good songs like, the single, "All Down Hill from Here", and "No news is good news", and then realised that those few songs aren't going to be enough to fill up an entire, full-length album... I am just gonna get to the point, I am a fan of New Found Glory. I have all of their CD's and I like most of them for the most part. However, I must say that Catalyst is their worst CD yet. To be honest, it sounds like they wrote every single song on the CD in a day.

Now, because NFG are great musicians, they will still have a few catchy tunes. I just think if they would have spent a little more time, they could have made an album better than their others. This CD will sell a lot and be popular. Most people who don't know anything about music are gonna hear this CD and like it because of the catchy riffs, the 'unique' vocals, and the popular image the band gives out. I think their newfound glory, in my opinion, was found back in the self-titled days, no pun intended. I have talked to people who like their album Sticks and Stones, other people like Catalyst.

The vocals are good, I think and will definitely catch your attention, once you hear the vocals once, and you can pick out NFG anywhere for the rest of your life. This, however can be a bad thing. There are two people in this world; those who love Jordan Pudnick's voice, and those who hate it. I know of many people who hate NFG because of the helium, nose-plugged voice of Jordan, and I also people who love NFG because of his voice. So I guess that could become a factor in deciding if you like the band or not. There is just about no lead guitar in the whole CD. This drives me insane.

RRRRRRRR bands with two rhythm guitars GRRRRRRR. So here is my advice to NFG. More Guitar 1 part, more harmony, more variation, work with the songs/get a new producer, just relax and take time writing songs. I would say give it a listen and burn it maybe. However, if you are a fan of Yellowcard, you will probably love this CD.