Ixnay On The Hombre, The Offspring (Columbia)

The Offspring cashed in on a little luck with 1994's "Smash."

After playing in obscurity for about a decade, the band from Orange County, Calif., launched the No. 1 modern-rock single "Come Out and Play (You Gotta Keep 'em Separated)," which resulted in multi-platinum sales for the album and landed The Offspring a major-label deal with Columbia Records.

Not to be confused with the trendy neo-punks of Green Day, who also broke in 1994 (just to bomb in 1995), The Offspring comes by its rousing sound honestly.

All those years of development have been redeemed with a genre-straddling, hard-rock blend of old punk, new punk, grunge remnants and even a disquieting dose of heavy metal. The group's sound is thereby a timeless one, and its legacy continues with the new "Ixnay on the Hombre."

There's only so much a band can do with a drum, a bass and guitars, so The Offspring is hardly unique. But for the group to resemble so many disparate acts is at least unusual.

The goofy mass vocals, brisk beat and chugging guitar of "Way Down the Line" parallel the German punk revivalists Die Toten Hosen, and Dexter Holland's careening vocals on "Me & My Old Lady" twist along the same path as an early Jane's Addiction song. (That's no coincidence: Onetime Jane's Addiction producer Dave Jerden is on board for "Ixnay.")

Other similarities are less compelling: The chorus of "Gone Away" could have been a mid-'70s refrain from some southern rock band (though the earnest melodrama is delivered with a wink), and "Amazed" sounds like the ghost of Cobain fronting a cheesy metal track from the '80s.

Although The Offspring is reminiscent of thousands of other bands in various contexts, what's important is how each track on "Ixnay" is a carefully crafted anthem -- the album isn't just a couple of good songs padded out with filler.

The key is melody -- and there's always plenty of it, whether from Noodles' feverish guitars or Holland's vocals. Nothing is wasted: Vicious rhythms from bassist Greg K. and manic beats by drummer Ron Welty are essential, too.

Then there's the attitude -- the hate-everything mantra of "Cool To Hate," the ode (?) to hemp of "Mota" ("Hearing Jimmy Buffett never sounded so good"), the fatalism of "Way Down the Line" ("Fat parents, they have fat kids, too/You know it's never gonna end.") . . . Holland shares his philosophy on everything from making the most of life ("I Choose") to avoiding VD ("Don't Pick It Up").

So "Ixnay on the Hombre" isn't only fun, it's practical.

Rating (five possible): XXXX

By Chuck Campbell, from Detours! - February 21, 1997