Loud, foul-mouthed and utterly obnoxious, Canadian bad boys Sum 41 are tailor-made to irritate parents everywhere, just as surely as they delight their rebellious young adolescents. Slightly more sophisticated than Blink 182 and their ilk (not that that's saying much), their savage rock music and anarchic attitude have rapidly made them one of the most notorious bands across the Atlantic. Look behind the tabloid hysteria, however, and it's hard not to feel that the Sum 41 phenomenon is a lot more calculated than the band themselves like to pretend. Their relentless barrage of heavy riffs (ballads are for wimps, of course) may be designed to be played at maximum volume, but it's also deceptively melodic - and given a smooth production sheen that renders it, whisper it softly, actually rather commercial. And while the album's sloganeering lyrics give it a much-needed dash of character, there's really very little here that hasn't been heard before. As teenage punk albums go, Does This Look Infected? is a perfectly decent one. But it has to be said that its fairly conventional pleasures sit very oddly indeed with the hype.
