Memory is a funny thing. When the intersection of thrift and communal nostalgia led me to buy this record when I found it on the cheap, I didn’t expect that I would have ever had every single song on here memorized.

While “The Middle” is still fresh in my mind, thanks to the airtime it still gets across alternative Pandora stations, I didn’t expect every. freaking. song. to tap into some long-forgotten corner of my memory banks. I didn’t even own this CD (my sister did), but somehow, its fist-pumping hooks worked their way into my brain.

And those hooks still have me caught.

While Bleed American has the same brilliant melodic sensibility as Clarity, it’s several degrees more straightforward. Clarity spent a lot of its time patiently building songs to a melodic climax. Bleed American aims straight for catharsis, and it hits a freaking bullseye.

These songs are meant for road trips, basement-party dancefloors, and heartfelt singalongs. From the dirty riffs and gang vocals of “Bleed American” to the hook-infused rock and roll of “A Praise Chorus” to the crushing heaviness of “The Sweetness,” Bleed American is as satisfying a burst of rock and roll that ever existed. “The Middle” easily could have been a 1970s dancehall anthem if Cheap Trick put it out.

Which isn’t to say it has none of Clarity’s patient composition. The electronics tinged “Cautioners” captures much of the spirit of “Goodbye Sky Harbor” in a third of the running time. “Hear You Me,” a ballad dedicated to famed emo scene supporters Mykel and Carli Allan (also celebrated by Weezer), remains one of the most heartfelt ballads in the canon of alternative music.

Bleed American isn’t just a satisfying piece of nostalgia, nor does it take any cheap shots at pop greatness. It’s just as intricately crafted as its predecessor—perhaps even more so.