CD review

Good Charlotte
‘The Chronicles of Life and Death’

Punk rock twins the Madden brothers — who leave a trail of teenage girls panting behind them in every state — and company aren’t so young and hopeless anymore. The group has come a long way from 2002’s “The Young and the Hopeless,” which sold more than 3 million copies in the U.S. They’ve, like, grown up and stuff, and it shows on their third album, “The Chronicles of Life and Death.”

The band’s record label released two editions of the CD with different art work (one for life and one for death) and each features a bonus track that isn't available on the other album. And get this? The album is more serious. Like their previous releases, the third is filled with ready-for-radio tracks but it isn't as “Predictable,” as the first single’s title would suggest.

Take the fifth track, “I Just Wanna Live,” an ’80s throwback that listeners could very well dance to, for example. Frontman Joel Madden displays a sense of humor when he makes note of the group’s single, “Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous,” which put them on the pop-punk and MTV map a couple of years ago.

Madden opens his heart and even yells on “The Truth,” as well as the band’s first single. You’ll also hear sophisticated song arrangements, introspective lyrical themes and straight-up punk rock. Good Charlotte teenage fans will, like, totally enjoy it and the group’s in-the-closet older fans will find this to be one heck of a guilty pleasure. B

— by Kelly Wilson, Get Out