Simple Plan — Simple Plan

Simple Plan are a band under no illusions. They know their fans are angsty teenyboppers and they play to those kids with the same single-minded focus that AC/DC commit to drunken grease-monkeys, Marilyn Manson to gloomy goths and Arcade Fire to over-educated call centre ops in the midst of existential crisis. Any pretense of "punk" has disappeared in favour of a radio conquering rock-pop hybrid on the Montreal band's self-titled third studio album and they're better off for that honesty. The spacey keys in "Generations" are probably supposed to be nods to a newfound hip-hop influence, but they could've just as easily been cribbed from Arnold Lanni's Saga or Europe records. "Your Love Is A Lie," meanwhile, gives off a heavy "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" deja vu. Dressed up with loads of us-verus-them sloganeering and delivered with subconscious nods to radio hits of the past, it's clear these guys continue to execute their plan perfectly.