Simple Plan: Simple Plan

For their self-titled third album, the men of

Simple Plan have stepped back, at least a little, from their roles as spokesdudes

for duh-filled mallternative rock. After albums called No Pads, No Helmets… Just

Balls and

Still Not Getting Any, there was only one way to go anyway: more mature. Sadly,

this change does little more than add homogeneity to a formula that had plenty

already. Simple Plan represents the furthest pop-punk can travel from the

Buzzcocks' late-'70s blueprint. Hit-factory production (courtesy of Nate "Danja"

Hills and Avril Lavigne/Kelly Clarkson sound doctor Max Martin) offers up glossy

rockers ("When I'm Gone" and "The End") and glossy rockers attempting sensitivity

("I Can Wait Forever"). Think Lavigne's "Girlfriend" without the hooks, but

with a discernable degree of emo introspection.