It’s so great to have a new Superchunk full-length out.

The North Carolina band that helped define garage rock, pop-infused punk and surf rock in the ’90s is back with its first full-length album, "Majesty Shredding," since 2001’s "Here’s to Shutting Up." 

In the time since then, two of the band’s members, Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance focused on their record label, a little thing called Merge, which just released Arcade Fire’s new album, amidst various other projects. So it’s not like they haven’t been busy doing all kinds of rad stuff.

The awesome thing here, though, is that "Majesty Shredding," doesn’t sound like a rehash of the music from their heyday. They’re not trying to capture a faded glory, but instead create something new and equally inspiring.

As it is, "Majesty Shredding," is lean, coming in at 41 minutes, and yet full of energy and purpose. It’s catchy, riff-centric punk music built around McCaughan’s impassioned lyrics, crunchy power chords and awesome. 

The album doesn’t come out for another week, but you can stream the album for free over at NPR.org and you can also check out "Learn to Surf" from 2009’s "Misfits and Mistakes" EP. The song also appears on the new album. 

If you like what you hear, you should definitely go back and get 1991’s "No Pocky for Kitty," one of the best and most influential pop-punk/rock albums of the decade.