On Sept. 4, the pop punk outfit The Wonder Years released their fifth studio album titled “No Closer to Heaven.” It is a concept album that is lyrically focused on dealing with the loss of a loved one and the lead singer Dan “Soupy” Campbell’s struggles with self doubt and writer’s block. Overall, I think that The Wonder Years put out another great pop punk album despite the relatively generic lyricism.

There are songs for just about anyone on the album. If you like fast-paced songs with soaring melodies, then you will enjoy “I Don’t like Who I Was Then” and “Thanks for the Ride.” If softer ballads are your thing, then “Cigarettes and Saints” and “You in January” are up your alley. While I really enjoy “No Closer to Heaven” as a returning fan, I am starting to get a little tired of the constant lyrical focus of being sad and feeling lost. The excellent instrumental work redeems the slightly repetitive lyrics, however, and I feel like the instrumentation is the strongest feature on the album. To give Campbell some credit, his writer’s block was apparently pretty severe, and he had to go to many of his friends in bands like Fireworks, letlive and Hostage Calm in order to get some inspiration for the album.

My favorite song off of this album is “A Song for Ernest Hemingway” because the lyrical content is actually rather fresh and they dabble into different genres with the instrumentation.