At first it's a little troublesome.

You start to wonder whether or not it's you.

You start to question whether or not you're too old to appreciate a band like Sum 41.

It's starts from the first two seconds of the Canadian punk band's latest release Does This Look Infected?, which features a recorded loogie hocking.

Quite the fitting tone setter.

Musically, every song blurs into the other, spat out with the same slick, frenetic punk pop guitar delivery a hundred and one other bands have mastered, with the only real tempo change occurring in the last minute of the album-ender Hooch.

It's not terrible -- just terribly redundant.

Even the one thing that can be appreciated, the fine production from the band's fortysomething svengali, Greig Nori, is easy to understand when you note that one of the most popular and internationally successful acts this nation has produced in the past five years -- heck, even Pepsi Co. owns a piece of their soul -- acknowledges financial support for this project from the Government of Canada.

Nothing more punk than flipping "The Man" the bird with one hand while holding the other one out for a nice big cheque is there?

Oh, who am I kidding -- that's the kind of thing only an old guy would look for, anyway.

But of course the real clincher at first seems to be the lyrics -- written in the back of a plush tour bus between DVDs and PlayStation tournaments, no doubt.

Here, the band is concentrating on its serious side, offering vague and easy to relate to thoughts -- no real answers mind you -- on disillusionment, disenfranchisement, frustration, boredom and, of course, "hypocracy" (sic).

Sum 41 don't seem to be speaking to, or more importantly for anyone over the age of 20.

That is until you get to the well titled track Thanks for Nothing: "So jaded frustrated, it's all so complicated/Fashion no passion surrounds me/All I know is/I've heard this all before."

Thanks, guys. Now I really can relate. (More on Sum 41)

Track Listing
1. Hell Song
2. Over My Head Better Off Dead
3. A**hole
4. My Direction
5. Still Waiting
6. Yesterday.com
7. All Messed Up
8. Mr. Amsterdam
9. Thanks for Nothing
10. Hyper-insomniaparachondriod
11. Billy Spleen
12. Hooch