Jimmy Eat World to me had pretty much represented the gold standard of Emo or pop-punk in terms of it's broad accessibility and songcrafting smarts. The good Lord only knows how many punk bands listened to Bleed American and thought "hmm, if we throw in some melody here and there, and sing about relationships instead of social injustice - we might be able to grab hold of a teat on the great swinging udder of the Emo bandwagon and cash-in on our next album." So I really expected this gifted quartet to steer away from the great morass of Emo-dome and take a fresh tack, maybe ratchet things up so as to keep the critics on board along with the fans - more or less like Blink 182 managed to do.

Sadly Futures is a misnomer, because rather than taking their game to a higher plane, they've aimed this new release straight into the present. Jim Adkins is one of the best singers in popular music period and his lyrics here are as observant and Crimson and Clever as ever, but there just isn't an original musical idea anywhere to be found on Futures. True the opening title track is a great song and is sure to be a successful single, but the album is festooned with Emo filler (not to be confused with Emo Phillips, the loony and fey comedian who once married Judy Tenuta before you were born). And even on Futures stronger tunes you can point to some pretty obvious borrowing and cribbing? Disappointing from a band that should be leading this genre somewhere fresh and new that we'd want to Follow.

Speaking of Follow, the third track "Work" steals the hook from AFI's "Girl Not Gray" outright. Likewise track five "The World You Love" sounds suspiciously similar to Death Cab For Cutie. And track seven "Drugs on Me" is such a shameless knock-off of Muse that it could pass for a hidden track on any of their last three records. The only track on the album that smacks of an interesting new direction is track ten "Night Drive." A slower groove-oriented acoustic affair that builds into a droning anthem that again owes a large debt to R.E.M and James. Still it's the best song on this maddeningly unimaginative follow up to bloody Bleed American.

I'm giving it a three because as uneventful as it may be, it's still worlds better than the Good Charlotte's and New Found Glory's that pollute the airwaves.