Saviors, with its smartly conceived, stadium-sized fifteen tracks, is both an impressive artistic step forward and a sonic and stylistic return to vintage Green Day. After all, Mike Dirnt still anchors and propels the band with his power-pick parts, in sympathetic spasms with drummer Tré Cool and guitarist/vocalist Billy Joe Armstrong. Best of all, with the passage of time, Dirnt has continued to develop his musicality, to the torrid trio’s benefit. This can range from subtle moves like playing fifths or octaves under a stream of steady root notes to add impact in a chorus, or adding what he calls a “2k pop” by playing harder in spots to produce a frequency that cuts through the mix, to adding counter-melodies, polyrhythms, and low-to-high movement to create musical and emotional sub-hooks in a song. “I’m always looking for windows. Places in the music where I have the opportunity to contribute to and serve the song.” Ex.1 shows the opening unison riff of “One