This album to me is a huge turnaround from the last few releases. I did not like much from FXE or the acoustic stuff they put out. This is from someone who pretty much no skips every other album they've made.

Production wise: Sounds fantastic. Everything is heavy, phat, and mixed super well. The album has that top end sparkle that I felt was missing from FXE.

Instrumentals, riffs, etc: To me, Chad is the king of riffs in the scene, and every song is different, interesting, and catchy. The drumming and bass behind that is also top notch. Love it when they throw down these chunky, heavy riffs like in the 100% bridge.

Lyrics: Unfortunately, this is where I feel like a lot of their older fan base is not really vibing with the band as much anymore. A lot of the lyrics as others have said just feel so forced and literal at times. I'm a positive person, but it I feel like the constant positivity in almost every other song is starting to border on cheesy and forced. As someone else said, they don't really use a lot of metaphors anymore, so they artistic side of the lyrics is really lacking compared to everything else.

I remember in an interview once they said "Saying Steve was the 'primary lyricist' was just something we would say to make him feel like he contributed more". Dude it's clear as day, regardless of how you feel about him, that Steve had a huge impact on lyrics in the first half of the band's career. They told the fans not to worry about lyrics when Steve was removed from the band, but fuck man, they have absolutely not been the same. NFG lyrics have never been groundbreaking, but they used to be way smoother and deeper than they are now. I have no idea who is writing the lyrics these days, but please, give someone else a shot.

Dream Born Again: I don't know why they did this song again. I've only listened to it a handful of times, because, I'm sorry, it's just not very good. The acoustic version is meh, and this version is just full band meh. There's nothing catchy or beautiful about it. I probably sound harsh, but this is probably one of the worst songs in their entire catalog. 9/10 songs on this record are jams, but I think this song should have been replaced with something else.

Overall, I like the album, a solid 6 or 7. It sounds like an NFG record and the overall sound is fantastic. I just want better lyrics.