Jimmy Eat World – “Damage” [Album Review]

Since everything that’s on the internet has to be true, I have to confess something: I haven’t listened to any Jimmy Eat World releases after Bleed American, which is what sparked my interest in their newest release Damage. The nostalgic part of me hoped for people in their underwear partying with the band, but then I realized that the guys in the band must be nearing 40, so that might not quite be the same, but I’d… I’d still watch.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, singer/lead guitar player James Adkins described this album as “pretty energetic.” That better not be on the internet, for it is certainly not true. For this one, the boys/middle aged men probably popped a few Ibuprofen after an early night of wine tasting before whipping out the note pad and jotting down a few thoughts about how sad it is to be sad.

Overall, the songs tend to be mid-tempo in a very adult contemporary fashion. While a couple of the tracks, mainly “Appreciation,” “I Will Steal You Back,” and “How’d You Have Me,” have their own faces, the rest come across as music library tracks. The instrumentals are driven by almost crunch, rhythm guitar chords and a drum beat that could go on for days like a metronome. Lyrically, we’ve got mostly bad love, at least that’s what I could make of it when my mind wasn’t drifting. If you’re not in a shitty relationship now, these words will roll out of bed like a one night stand, BUT, the more I listen to it, the more I can see myself drowning in Rocky Road ice cream the next time a girlfriend cheats on me, and when no one is around to judge me, I’ll listen to “You Were Good,” and sob like the coward that I am, babbling along, “It was good, it was good… and it was gone.”

Simplicity can have a certain beauty to it, but in this case, it tends to get a certain boring. If an unknown band tried to release these tunes, they would have a hard time winning the county fair battle of the bands, but since it’s Jimmy Eat World, I can see that people who like posting on Facebook about how relationships suck might like it. That’s not to say that there aren’t a couple of good hooks on this album. I anticipate hearing a few of them in the background of the next reality TV show about how hard life is for rich white kids.

Track Listing:

01. Appreciation
02. Damage
03. Lean
04. Book of Love
05. I Will Steal You Back
06. Please Say No
07. How’d You Have Me
08. No, Never
09. Byebyelove
10. You Were Good

Run Time: 37:52
Release Date: June 11, 2013

Check out the song “I Will Steal You Back”