This came out in 2004 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Maybe I’m slow on the uptake, but I just noticed New Found Glory’s initials are NFG. What a coincidence.
I know something else that stands for — and it pretty much sums up Catalyst, the fourth set of predictable pop-punk from this Florida fivesome. The spiky guitars, the spiky hair, the yelpy nasal vocals and soaring harmonies, the power ballads and laughable teen-romance lyrics (“I never cared how I dressed before / But I cared that night”) — it’s all straight from the Warped Tour handbook. A few metallic moments, the odd blast of old-school hardcore and a bit of Spinal Tapish silliness add some individuality, but for the most part, New Found Glory are retelling the same old story with Catalyst.
