Offspring
Ixnay On The Hombre
(Columbia)

Once past Jello's "disclaimer" the opening moments of the new Offspring album prove nothing much changes in good ol' Orange County. Although capturing the sound well, Dave Jerden can,t save the band from sounding like they've spent millions, which they have, to sound like they spent thousands. Owing more to early Oi bands the Buisness or the Blitz, the sing-a-long "I've got a right to be angry" anthems wear thin pretty quick. Attempting to cover all the punk rock bases the songs are pretty varied, but trying to mix up ska & Latin rhythms proves the band aren't as clever as they'd like to think they are. The patronising anti-pot "Mota" or the overwrought Top Gun reject "Gone Again" fail to help matters from degenerating into Sth. Cali frat rock. Dexter Holland skanks like Al Bundy raps throughout "Dont Pick It Up' (seemingly about transvestittes), the rest of the album including its "Intermisson" (if you make it that far) proves to be pretty patchy. The last track "Change the World," complete with Van Halen intro, certainly appeals but fails to save the day. Sony won the war, but Epitaph seem to have won the peace, there's little chance of the millions spent to sign Offspring ever being recovered before the fans outgrow them, at least they'll be able to retire in their home town where approximately 5% of the population are ex-UK Subs members. The punk rock elephants graveyard, where aging English yobs swapped pie, pints n' mash for coke & valley girls 10 years ago - no doubt the genesis of the pop punk plague, damn them all to hell. (4)

By Nick Anderson, from Real Groove Reviews