Album Review The Offspring - Rise and Fall Rage and Grace

For some reason this album, which has been out for a year now, stayed pretty under the radar. This is surprising considering any band that was ever good releasing a record seems to get hyped nowadays. However in anticipation of seeing the Offspring live last weekend I decided to refresh myself on some of their songs and learn a few of the new ones to get the full concert experience.

First of all, the concert was fantastic. It was opened by a generic punk band called Time Again then the Dropkick Murphys came out. While I have an ancillary relationship with them, they were a solid live band and surprisingly enough I even knew a couple of their tunes.

After paying $3 for a lukewarm bottle of water to prevent heat exhaustion, we crowded a little bit closer for the headliners. We were instantly engulfed in a big hazy smoke as I half expected at a show like this. There was also about 400% more crowd-surfing than I have ever seen at a concert before.

I left the concert venue with very achy feet, no voice whatsoever and a sore neck. So in other words the concert was everything I hoped it would be. They mixed in about half of the new album with their old classics in a nice tight set list.

Now about those new songs...

The Offspring formed nearly 25 years ago and released their first album 20 years ago. They didn't hit it big until their smash 3rd album appropriately titled "Smash". Let this be a lesson to any aspiring bands who don't think album titles are important. After a few other strong albums (Ixenay on the Hombre and Americana) they released a few clunkers (A Conspiracy of One and Splinter) the latter of which was 5 years ago.

This album falls squarely in the middle of those two groups. There are a few stellar tunes on here and a few not so stellar. Overall it's a good album, but if you go in expecting a classic you'll be disappointed.

As is common with bands who are entering into their mid-40's there are a number of slower tempo songs and even ballads! However, there are a few songs that let their punk roots shine through and those are generally the best cuts.

The album starts out with the almost anthemic Half-Truism which is probably my favorite song on the record. I tend to hate political statement songs, but this one is thinly veiled enough and still catchy without getting overly preachy.

Then comes Trust In You, which is a little too metal sounding for my taste. Not surprising given that Bob Rock (Metallica) was the producer for this effort.

You're Going To Go Far Kid is very divergent from the roots as it features a disco like drum beat almost making it dancable. Also one of the better tunes on here.

Hammerhead, the first single, gets back to the punks roots and is very classic Offspring sound.

After this the album gets a bit murky. There are some experiments with pianos and they go 1 for 2 on the ballads as Kristy Are You Doing Okay? has some very touching lyrics and a very acoustic feel.

About the only other notable is Stuff Is Messed Up which is apparently Dexter's take on the politics that have sprung forth since the Offspring's last record. This is also what they led off the concert with. While I'm not a huge fan of the lyrics the song itself is rather catchy.

All in all, there are enough good classic punk tunes to justify the purchase of this album. Some of the forays into different types of music previously foreign to the Offspring fail, but I would still rather hear a band fail to branch into something different than just release the same tired drivel. *cough* Green Day *cough*

Really despite the critic's reception to this album as well as the past two Green Day albums, this album is what Green Day aspires to be. I would gladly listen to this album anyday over the boring pop-punk of American Idiot or 21st Century Breakdown.

Bottom line: If you like the Offspring, you'll probably enjoy at least some of this collection.