Underclass Hero
by Sum 41
  • Record Label: Island
  • Release Date: Jul 24, 2007
Metascore
50

Mixed or average reviews - based on 12 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 12
  3. Negative: 2 out of 12
  1. The A.V. Club
    83
    The band's smartest and most mature-sounding album yet.
  2. Billboard
    80
    Its growth feels genuine and, unlike Sum 41's punk peers, its musical maturation doesn't come at the expense of that all-important snotty 'tude.
  3. Entertainment Weekly
    75
    Much of Hero is bogged down by piano, strings, even lyrics in French. [27 Jul 2007, p. 65]
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  5. Spin
    60
    The result is a bigger, slicker record laced with potent "American Idiot"-style Bush-bashing, a handful of emo-heavy relationship ballads, and very few surprises. [Sep 2007, p.138]
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  6. Hot Press
    50
    Underclass Hero is a perfectly workable North American punk rock album. It’s got melodic suss and a snotty attitude to its credit, but not much else.
  7. New Musical Express (NME)
    40
    Underclass Hero they've gone straight for the commercial mother lode, pitching their sound almost equidistantly between 'The Black Parade' and 'American Idiot' (insert your own 'parade of idiots' gag here).... If you already own those albums, why waste your time with this?
  8. AllMusic
    40
    Underclass Hero is ingratiating enough as background music—it's hooky enough to have momentum but not enough to linger in the memory—but they've never sounded quite so toothless and it's all down to this increased ambition.
  9. Rolling Stone
    40
    Melodrama drags down several cuts, including the absentee-dad lament "Dear Father," and in some form or another, you've heard all these songs before.
  10. NOW Magazine
    40
    How poignantly they express their inarticulate messages through Blink-182 rip-offs and recycled versions of their own material.
  11. PopMatters
    40
    The band simply have no idea how to write what they want.
  12. The Guardian
    20
    Sentiments are rendered as blandly as lazy graffiti tags, with the music accompanying them as bold and portentous as a light shower.
  13. Sputnikmusic
    20
    Underclass Hero tries its best to be profound and musically challenging, however its only success is found, without exception, in the tracks which drop the pretense entirely and return to the formula which made the group popular to begin with.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 110 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 79 out of 110
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 110
  3. Negative: 20 out of 110
  1. RossS.
    Feb 7, 2008
    10
    Its Sum 41 They always rock their the best band!!!!!
  2. michely
    Nov 4, 2022
    7
    While it's far from my favorite Sum 41 album, I can say time made me appreciate it more than when it came out. The departure of Brownsound andWhile it's far from my favorite Sum 41 album, I can say time made me appreciate it more than when it came out. The departure of Brownsound and made the album more pop and less metal. Also, I loved Green Day's masterpiece American Idiot and I felt that Underclass Hero was a blatant ripoff as we see so much inspiration like at the start of the March of the dogs. I felt they even ripped of their own songs with Underclass Hero as it riped off Subject to change, a bonus song on their previous album Chuck. I guess I didn't get the concept of the title Subject to change at the time. Also, as a French Canadian, I was shocked when I listen to Ma Poubelle as I can't believe artists from Canada (where French is an official language) could make songs in French and be so bad at it. I didn't mind NOFX's Champ Elysees as I don't mind how poorly American speeks French. I would be curious to know if Goldfinger's singer was as bad at singing 99 red balloon's German's part. As years passed by and many great Sum 41's albums later, the more I revisit Underclass Hero, the more I enjoy it.… Full Review »
  3. Decim
    May 25, 2017
    6
    Dave's absence is heard from the first song, the title track, who can be a kind of summary of this album: it's not terrible, but it ain'tDave's absence is heard from the first song, the title track, who can be a kind of summary of this album: it's not terrible, but it ain't inspired, there are are few remarkable songs (Speak of the devil, The Jester, Pull The Curtain and So Long Goodbye), while Best Of Me is almost embarrassing.
    March Of The Dogs is interesting.    … Full Review »
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