Green Day leave the best to last with ¡Tré!

Earlier this year American pop-punk band Green Day announced they were to release a trilogy of albums between September and December. ¡Tré! is the final release, following its predecessor ¡Dos! in moving away from “rock operas” to a more garage-rock style

You can hear the influences from their back catalogue in this new material. Opener Brutal Love sounds like Boulevard of Broken Dreams with added piano, whilst Amanda and Sex, Drugs & Violence could have been easily pulled from their Warning album.

There doesn’t seem to be much innovation or development in their sound. They moved forward slightly with ¡Uno!, experimenting with genres they hadn’t explored in detail before, but now they have regressed back to their former selves. This is not actually a bad thing.

The album shows a return to form for Billie Joe Armstrong as both a singer and a lyricist. On Walk Away he solemnly describes moving on from a relationship, singing “It’s really not too late, it’s really not worth the fight, no-one’s right.” Guitarist Mike Dirnt pulls off some massive guitar riffs during 99 Revolutions, the likes of which have not been seen since Holiday. Tré Cool’s drumming skills are as good as ever, effortlessly carrying each song. After years of working together the trio have become a tight-knit group.

This album proves that Green Day have a good formula, and should stick to it. If they can create three good quality albums in three months without making the songs feel rushed and unimaginative, then clearly they are doing something right. These albums haven’t been made for critics or to attract new fans: they are for the die-hard Green Day fans, giving them a lot of new material to enjoy. ¡Tré! is the best one of the three, it shows off what the band can do and what they have been doing for many years.  It’s the perfect addition to any Green Day collection.

Verdict: ••••

                                                                                                                                                                James Alder

To pre-order the album, click here.

Watch the video of The Forgotten here: