Welcome to The All Nighter
3 Out of 5 Stars
When Green Day exploded with Dookie, it seemed almost flukey. After a decade of being music everyone ignored, their Ramones/Buzzcocks derived power-punk was 10 times platinum, and the expectations for "Insomniac" were sky high. While the album is pretty good, it follows a near perfect one. "Insomniac" sounds rushed, and even if the band was already on their fourth album, this sounded like a sophomore slump.
The main diferences between "Insominiac" and "Dookie" are the arrangements, which aim for a harder rock sound. "Brain Stew" kicks off with a riff AC/DC would be proud of, and "Panic Song" revs up an extended introduction that jumps off the short/sharp/shock formula of the earlier punks. Which is something "Jaded" - at a machine gunned 90 seconds - sticks to. The album's best songs stick to the formula for the most part, and "Brain Stew," "Geek Stink Breath" and "Panic Song" have become deserved classic radio staples.
The band was evolving, and the major change is at the end. "Walking Contradiction" starts to hint at the intospection that would fully bloom when Nimrod's "Good Riddence/Time of Your Life" became a major hit. "Insomniac" could have used a few more of these change ups. The snotty juvenaillia that made "Dookie" such a suprisingly charming album sounds forced here, and puts "Insomnia" somewhere in the middle of Green Day's catalog.
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