Review / 200 Words Or Less
Goldfinger
Hello Destiny

Side One Dummy (2008) Scottie

Goldfinger – Hello Destiny cover artwork
Goldfinger – Hello Destiny — Side One Dummy, 2008

Men in their late-thirties making vague statements about the future's uncertainty under the guise of it being punk rock, there's something concerning about this. It's as if their quarter-life crisis is stretching into mid-life, arresting their development into adulthood. Hello Destiny, the newest album by Goldfinger, finds the SoCal band exactly in this position, angry at the world, rehashing the same bland rhetoric they started pushing since they became a "political" band at the turn of the century. While the music - fast paced, somewhat heavy punk that characterized the early Fat/Epitaph sound - certainly isn't anything to be ashamed of, it also seems kind of stale for a band that's been doing this for close to fifteen years. I'm not saying you have to reinvent yourselves every album, but a little variance would keep things interesting. And no, the ska/ reggae tracks on the album don't count because that, too, is a shtick now tired. Of course I can't say that I didn't see this coming, this was released on Side One Dummy. Their releases by MXPX and the Suicide Machines prove this is a label where bands that once were go to die after being eaten up by the major label machine.

6.0 / 10Scottie • May 26, 2008

Goldfinger – Hello Destiny cover artwork
Goldfinger – Hello Destiny — Side One Dummy, 2008

Related news

Go It Alone Return To Action

Posted in Bands on January 6, 2005

Recently-posted album reviews

Painkiller

The Equinox
Tzadik (2025)

Painkiller sees three absolute masters of extreme music join forces. John Zorn of Naked City and a billion other projects, Mick Harris who transcended from Napalm Death drummer to illbient guru with Scorn, and producer extraordinaire Bill Laswell. Their first two records, Guts of a Virgin and Buried Secrets are strange meditations traversing between free-jazz, grindcore and dub. Still hungry … Read more

Dauber

Falling Down
Recess (2025)

The lazy approach would be to call Dauber "ex-Screaming Females," but that barely scratches the surface. If I had to pick one band to namedrop a comparison to, it would be labelmates Night Court. They play a familiar style but with a lot of quirks that set it apart from the genre standard-bearers. It's driving and energetic -- more importantly, … Read more

Aesop Rock

Black Hole Superette
Rhymesayers (2025)

Aesop Rock has a reputation for esoteric and abstract raps. It's certainly an earned reputation, but that background makes it interesting when you peel off the layers of his latest, Black Hole Superette and realize that many of these dense songs are actually about the mundane: walking the dog, cohabitation... hell, even fishkeeping. While there's a lot of day-to-day routine … Read more