21st Century Breakdown

Pitchfork 4.8/10 The performances are blandly professional, because any major-label rock band of Green Day's abilities could shit this stuff out in their sleep, and emotionally inert. This is the crafting of a modern epic as a dreary day-job routine.

A.V. Club B Green Day took small steps out of its comfort zone on American Idiot, but Breakdown finds the band going bolder, mixing in elements of mariachi (“Peacemaker”) and klezmer (“¡Viva La Gloria!”). Still, the band members never spend too much time away from their bread and butter: heavily melodic punk.

NME 4/5 We’re left with a sprawling, obvious, uber-commercial, stoopid punk-pop album that might just stop five million American idiots from voting for a war-mongering Republican baby-slaughterer when they grow up. Works for me.

Evening Standard 3/5 The focus-free fury can become bluster, but some fantastic tunes should maintain stadium status.

Rolling Stone 4.5/5 21st Century Breakdown is even better, so masterful and confident it makes Idiot seem like a warm-up.

The Independent 3/5 The producer, Butch Vig, keeps the balance between buzzsaw guitars and vocal harmonies about right, but the new elements – Beatles-esque strings, tack piano, the Brian May-ish guitar sound on the title track – are unwelcome heralds of ill-fitting ambitions.

All Music 3.5/5 The band manages to have 21st Century Breakdown work on a grand scale without losing either their punk or pop roots, which makes the album not only a sequel to American Idiot, but its equal.

The Observer 4/5 It's a state of the union address, an apocalyptic protest album. It also sounds phenomenal.

Slant 2/5 Maybe if you've heard one Green Day rock opera, you've heard them all. Anyone who owns American Idiot probably won't need its lesser twin, and those who steered clear won't come groveling for forgiveness.

Pop Matters 6/10 Such quality care is evident throughout most of Breakdown, and, as such, individual moments positively glisten, even if the widescreen view of Breakdown feels a bit muddled and confused, the whole actually being less than the sum of its parts.

The Guardian 3/5 If it seems a little less bold, a little less surprising than its predecessor, you still wouldn't bet against 21st Century Breakdown repeating its success.

The Telegraph 3/5 An incomprehensible storyline about a young couple on the run from the American dream (rhymes with “scream”) provides the jumping pad for crunchy bubblegum power-chord anthems with pithy, angry lyrics.

The Irish Times 4/5 With Green Day, there's always a danger of veering into a Bill Ted's Excellent Adventure pastiche, but 21st Century Breakdown is edgy and audacious in all the right ways.