The pop-punk era of the late 1990s and the early-to-mid 2000s was a movement, a cult, a community. Pop-punk wasn’t necessarily mainstream, nor was it underground. It was everything to a group of kids mad at the world and with no one to vent their frustrations to. And for many of those people, including me, pop-punk, now and then, still is everything and more.

So when a perennial and personal favorite like New Found Glory comes around with a concert, pop-punk fans of all over flock to their shows to get hit with a few hours of nostalgia.

And after an illustrious career, spanning seven albums (eight if you count the International Superheroes of Hardcore), New Found Glory have given everybody a chance to experience their concert with their first live album, Kill It Live.

For first impressions, nobody does it better than NFG as they rope the listener in immediately with their fast-paced intro track and do not pause to say much before keeping the heads banging through “Understatement” and “Don’t Let Her Pull You Down”.

“Tip of The Iceberg” is probably the most fun track on the whole record as lead guitarist, Chad Gilbert, shows off his band’s melodic chops while lead singer, Jordan Pundik, uses his trademark voice to roar the microphone and the crowd into submission.

The biggest mark they make is just how hard they rock. Because oh man do they rock hard, even after years and years of playing the same songs, NFG laces each and every syllable and chord with enough passion and angst that it seems as if the music is new and fresh to them.

A pleasant surprise for NFG fans are the three new studio tracks at the end of the album, where songs like “Connect The Dots” don’t let the listener down with the same passion and fun fans have come to love of the five-piece band.

“Pop Punk’s Not Dead” was New Found Glory’s tour motto for many years, it’s a declaratory statement saying that even if the genre has its heart stopped, NFG can be the life support keeping it alive, unique, and as lively as ever. And it doesn't take much for someone to be convinced of this, all it takes is a few live New Found Glory songs.

So just let go, and let your head bang.

My Score: 9.75/10 (Live Album ranking)