Well, critics certainly love them a good "maturity" record.

by KGB, Belly o. the Beast, Wednesday, May 15, 2013, 14:22 (4773 days ago) @ Indiana_Irish

For me...I don't know what to tell you. I just think the songs, by and large, are really excellent. In other instances, I would probably hammer a band for going away from "A-Punk" and "Campus", but I think a lot of it comes down to the fact that VW were never "rock" or "punk" or whatever to begin with. Maybe that's not fair to the Thermals, but if you're going to start out hard, then by god you'd better keep playing fucking HARD. Because that's what I loved about you in the first place. In that respect, the shift here feels much more subdued to me, because my enjoyment of VW was always more about melody than volume. And in that respect, I don't find the new album lacking in the least, although there's plenty to be said for personal preference.