Green Day is back. After a brief hiatus of almost two years, the band’s new album “Revolution Radio“ reassures fans that Green Day isn’t done using their music to voice their dissatisfaction with the world. After the band’s 2012 “¡Uno! ¡Dos! Try!” Trilogy, many fans were concerned the disappointing compilation would be Green Day’s last hoorah.

It is clear from the first song “Somewhere Now” that “Revolution Radio” isn’t another “¡Uno! ¡Dos! Try!” No longer are the songs built on one catchy phrase repeated in hopes of finding a meaning. Instead, each song on the album has a clear message.

The first song starts as a ballad, but after their years away from playing music together, clearly the band was just as anxious as their fans to get back to their punk roots, as the slow acoustic music doesn’t last even one verse.

While “Somewhere Now” dips slightly into politics, the next song on the album “Bang Bang” shows Green Day throwing their opinions right back into the fray. The song clearly details the mind of a mass shooter driven to his heinous act by the intense desire to be famous. The whole album has a large focus on how detrimental the media is to our society as a whole.

This album shows a new sound for the band. While songs like “Say Goodbye” feel slightly reminiscent of “21st Century Breakdown” and the message of the album is clearly mirroring “American Idiot,” the album itself isn’t quite like anything we’ve heard from Green Day before. It is clear that the band has matured. They effectively use acoustic guitars and slower verses throughout the album, like in “Ordinary World” to separate the repetitive, guitar riff heavy songs and to create more depth in the album.

Overall, the album has the classic rise and fall in pace and mood to allow a sense of completion when listening to the album as a whole. Green Day managed to live up to the hype that lead up to the release of “Revolution Radio.” The album isn’t quite “American Idiot,” but it is leaps and bounds ahead of “¡Uno! ¡Dos! Tré!” It is clear that the band isn’t done yet, and fans can witness that and see Green Day at the Xcel Energy Center on April 1, 2017.