Good Charlotte? More Like Irrelevant Charlotte

I’m getting older, and I feel like it’s time I finally came out of the closet.

My parents won’t like it, my friends may disown me, and I’ll get funny looks in class from now on, but I don’t even care. I just can’t take the lies any longer.

Okay, here goes: I used to be a huge Good Charlotte fan and was actually really excited about the new Good Charlotte album, “Cardiology,” that came out Oct. 27.

If you look at Good Charlotte’s recent discography, they’re definitely due for a good album. Since the albums “Good Charlotte” in 2000 and “The Young and the Hopeless” in 2002, Good Charlotte has abandoned their original pop-punk style.

We all remember jamming out to “Waldorf Worldwide” on our way to gymnastics and blasting “Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous” on our way to theater camp, right? Just me? Well, you get the point.

Either way, Good Charlotte’s last two albums have shown that the band just do not know what they want to do musically anymore.

“The Chronicles of Life and Death” in 2004 attempted a more adult music style with songs about dying, and “Good Morning Revival” in 2007 tried to get us to dance to awkward techno-rock. Both were epic failures.

Their fan base of MTV-generation high-school girls who were already sold on their pop-punk were forced to buy slop-junk.

But at last, with “Cardiology,” you’d think that they’d be due for at least one good album free from sellout pop-rock hits. Well, sellout pop-rock is their calling card so let’s try that again.

Good Charlotte is at least due for an album that accomplishes their sellout pop-rock style while not being overly asinine.

And how does “Cardiology” do?

The 15-track album begins with a silly intro that begs to be skipped outright and continues with a couple of fun, upbeat songs about drinking and feeling alive. There are no “dancey” club hits contained in this album, which is good, but prepare for a lot of filler.

In fact, the simplicity of the guitar riffs makes many songs only distinguishable by the chorus.

The album becomes a little slower and more emotional by the last five songs in focusing on lead singer Joel Madden’s daughter, wife and life before fame, though the problem of predictable guitar riffs and unoriginal lyrics persist.

I’m not really a fan of Joel or his brother and backup vocalist Benji Madden’s voice these days, as they both tend to get too nasally and overly dramatic.

As an indicative side note, the intro to “Harlow’s Song” is near-stolen from Rihanna’s song “Unfaithful,” representing just how creative these guys are this go-round.

“Cardiology” is just a below-average pop-rock album with little to get excited or even complain about.

If nasally voices, predictable melodies, filler guitar riffs and syrupy-sweet lyrics are the kind of good vibrations you want coming from your sparkling pink iPod Nano, then “Cardiology” is the album for you.

2 out of 5 stars.