Eight albums into their career, and The Offspring appear to have aged fairly well. Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace may not be much of a progression from the band’s earlier material, but there wasn’t much that needed changing. If anything, it’s good to hear that they appear to have largely abandoned their millennial cartoon pop songs for a return to the high-energy punk rock that gained them their reputation in the first place.
Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace isn’t as raw and unpolished as Smash, but that’s probably due in no small part to major label recording facilities and Bob Rock on production duties. The Offspring’s perennial grasp of a fast melodic hook is still there, though, propelled by a rhythm section tighter than an emo’s trousers and a reassuringly beefy guitar sound, and Dexter remains one of the most distinctive – if not necessarily inventive – vocalists of his generation.
Recent free-to-download single “Hammerhead” gives the young turks a run for their money, with simple chord sequences and hard-hitting drums running beneath Dexter’s urgent howling making the SoCal punk template sound surprisingly fresh, and certainly represents a peak of power among the songs on Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace. Likewise, “Takes Me Nowhere” is classic West Coast skater rage – bouncy, sweaty and made for live shows.
“A Lot Like Me” pays more of a nod to the MySpace generation, with a much more heavily-produced sound – reverbed piano and a wide soundscape back up angsty vocals delivering a down-and-out anthem that never sounds like a surrender; it’s an obvious attempt by The Offspring to fit in with modern tastes, and I’d be willing to place money on it being the next single. “Fix You” and “Nothingtown” also partake of this radio-friendly sound, but we get honest stories instead of teenaged whining – a depth of narrative that is hard to find in younger acts.
I suspect the enduring fan favourite from Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace will be the acoustic nostalgia-jangle of “Kristy, Are You Doing Okay?” - it has that easy-to-cover simplicity that’ll see it jammed out around burnt-out barbecues and campfires over the coming summer – provided we actually get one this year, that is.
There’ll be plenty of people who will slam Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace, saying it’s not as good as their earlier stuff, that they’ve sold out, so on and so forth. Truth be told, The Offspring’s sound has grown up and filled out a little, but to listen to their lyrics makes it plain that they’ve not fallen into the rock-star trap of being out of touch - “Stuff Is Messed Up” is definitely not the sound of a band going through the motions, and album closer “Rise And Fall” has all the adrenaline and melody you could ask for. Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace isn’t quite “all killer, no filler”, but it hits enough home runs to make it more than worth the time.
Related articles:
Posted in Music reviews |
Tags: political, punk, Rise And Fall Rage And Grace, rock, skate-punk, The Offspring
June 15th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Good review - I find very true - but you left out You’re Gonna Go Far Kid, which is probably gonna be the next single despite your claim as it has the popyness (is that a word? I don’t think so)to appeal to the mainstream and a but not too much that it will alienate more “punk” fans. And it rocks in my humble opinion.
June 16th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Thanks John, glad you like the review. “Youre Gonna Go Far Kid” struck me as a decenmt tune, but the others are much more obviously made for radio/MTV, so I figured they’d be the ones for the chart attempts. We’ll just have to wait and see!
June 17th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
I have to disagree with some of the review. You say they abandoned their cartoon pop songs for a return to the high-energy punk rock, but this is by far their poppiest yet. The first 2 songs are deceiving of how the rest of the album will sound because I think they are the best 2 on there, especially “Trust In You” (that song rocks!). Then you get to “You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid”, which you figure is the “Hit That” or the “Original Prankster” of the cd and I agree sounds like the next single. Next you get to the very strong first single Hammerhead which I enjoy. But then the cd takes an unpleasant turn. A couple slower sentimental songs which I really don’t think Offspring can do very well, and a couple really poppy songs that can fit right on an MxPx album. Though “Takes Me Nowhere” is one of my favorites, the second half of the cd is just nothing to get excited for. Since I just bought the cd 4 hours ago and have only listened to it a couple times, I don’t want to be unfair and put down the majority of the songs cause I am sure it will grow on me. I just miss the days of fast palm-muted verses, speedy power chord choruses and bridges that slow down the song with just the bass playing before firing up again into the chorus
Music has changed it’s just time to admit it.
June 17th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Ain’t it the truth, my friend; ain’t it the truth. Thanks for your input!
June 18th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
I Personally never listened to offspring apart from thier singles but after hearing this, i went out and bought smash(As it was highly recomended) and i feel immense shame on myself for not buying more of thier albums earlier,Pretty fair review of the album in my opinion and very informative without sounding biased.
Side note: Hammerhead on rock band is a quality song to play on drums, hard tho
June 19th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
I must be behind on the times, I never bought splinter, I own all the other albums and have been a fan since iginition. When I bought the new album I’m finding out that Ron Welty is no longer in this band. As a local Philly musician and drummer Welty has been a long time influence, and Steady Ground is not impressive to say the least. His two step beats were monumental for the early 90’s, and machine gun snare rolls were only matched by trey cool of green day for the era of early pop punk/alternative.
The new alumb is refreshing because it is as close to ignition as this band is going to get. They’ve seemed to stop writing songs that make it hard to be a fan i.e. “original prankster” , “Hit That”, and “Pretty Fly For A White Guy”. Its good to know these guys still have the fuel and anger they seemed to have lost so long ago. Dexter’s vocals are some of the best I’ve ever heard from, and I love the anti-war lyrics of hammerhead and opening poly rythms from Welty’s replacement. I put this album up with some of the better albums lately including: Portishead Third, In Rainbows, Colors (Between the Buried and Me), Ireworks (Dillinger Escape Plan), and many other albums that have reassured me that there are still bands in this world that can write creative and timeless material. Some may call it Offspring’s American Idiot but I think this album is way better than that garbage was, Offspring can still rock, how many other 90’s bands can say the same?
June 26th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
you know i really like this album and for the most part all of the songs. A few are meh but I can see why theyre there and the fact the appeal to other fans is cool. I think this is album is sort of the equivalent when your parents try to dress like you in high school. But they pull it off a lot better than mine. Ha.
They just got pigeonholed to their “offspring” sound and now that they experiment a bit more they get scrutinized for it. Its a shame, people should spend more time just listening to music without a care-for enjoyment. Instead of writing reviews.
June 26th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
btw that wasnt directed at the reviewer. Im just commenting on what seems to be going on with a lot of the people that dislike it.
June 26th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
It’s a fair point, August; I know I find it hard when bands I grew up with change their sound over time - I always seem to want them to sound like they did when I first fell in love with them. Sometimes it’s hard to accept that bands grow up and change, just like the rest of us.
Thanks for your comment!
June 27th, 2008 at 7:04 am
A well written and unbiased review. Very hard to find nowadays. I was slightly disappointed with the Splinter album, but still found it enjoyable. I find it almost eerie how my challenged faith recently fits with Trust in You and my friend (ironically named Kristy) lost her dad in the line of duty a couple weeks back. I suppose that makes me a bit biased towards it, but oh well. Great review though, sir.
June 27th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
I really enjoy this cd. The main reason is beacuse its different then their other stuf, but somehow still the same. I guess theyr givin out the same message only in a different way. Its a good cd and I really enjoyed it.
June 30th, 2008 at 5:17 am
I was first hooked about 14 years ago (I was 10). Instantly, I was instantly smitten. I loved them because I was a little maniac and the high energy music kicked ass in my under aged opinion. They evolved into my favorite band through high school.
Despite my changing musical taste, I still buy Offspring’s albums. Few bands out there command my respect to get me to actually pay the money for the damn album.
I had a wish three years ago, two years after Splinter’s release: for The Offspring to release one last album. I can die happy now. Haven’t picked up the album yet, but you bet your ass I’ll have by July 4th.
Oh and props to Joe for mentioning BTBAM.
Good review too.
June 30th, 2008 at 5:19 am
haha “Instantly, I was instantly smitten.” Sorry for the redundancy, I should re-read my crap.
July 1st, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Im sorry but I have every other Offspring album (apart from splinter)… and i even saw them at download (which was kickass!) and i get home listen to this album and WTF ! i had to do a double take of the CD cover cus i cudda sworn i was listening to late greenday shit. FUCK!! hammerheads pretty good tho, thanks xxx
July 2nd, 2008 at 8:32 am
Great review, there has been so many horrible reviews on this album that I was beginning to think I was the only one to like it.
Very true very honest review for a bloody brilliant album!
July 2nd, 2008 at 7:15 pm
I’d have to agree with most in saying the review was excellent! As Yo said, there are so many bad reviews about their albums up to and including this one, and it’s refreshing to read one that favors a change in music. I fell in love with them after hearing their self titled album that was released on Nitro. I’ve actually enjoyed the subtle changes in their music over the years. As a band matures and grows together, style, sound, and lyrics tend to change. They’ve been around for about 24 years, producing 8 albums (unless I’m missing one), so naturally things will change. I’m assuming my musical tastes will change when I hit my 40’s as well, but who knows what music the kiddies will be listening to then =) I absolutely love this album and think they’re having fun doing what they do, and I admire that. Congrats to them for another awesome CD, and I’m praying they’ll continue!
July 7th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Yeah good review guy, the album has 3.5 stars written all over it, it’s pretty good but with no real standouts.
Smash was awesome, but where do they go from there? Like every bands’ “post awesome breakthrough album” up is going to be a big challenge. It seems like they just thought, “hey, forget the pressure, let’s have a laugh and do some more jokey songs. Wow, now everyone loves us, well lets keep doing this! Oh everyone’s over it. What now? Back to the old stuff again? Yeah why not, I always preferred that anyway.”
Result, this album, which is solid.
So many bands find a winning formula and stick with it (foo fighters, RHCP etc etc) which the masses seem to love but it sort of loses any substance and gets boring to their original fans.
Musically, Offspring seem to have taken the step they should have made post Ixnay - it’ll be interesting to see if they now stick with what they know ala Foo Fighters or move on to a new sound ala Radiohead.
July 11th, 2008 at 7:51 am
I have every Offspring CD and i personally can see a lot of maturity they have gone through since the late 80’s. Splinter i felt could have been done better but this latest one makes up for it. “Your Gonna go Far kid” is my fave song off the album and “Kristine, are your doing ok?” is up there too. I like when they slow things down every now and then. I believe this album shows they have come a long way and made a great attempt at recreating the feel of “Smash”. Not quite at that level of course but i still LOVE the new album.
July 14th, 2008 at 1:00 am
Please don’t compare this album to Smash. It doesn’t come close. Smash was the greatest definition of The Offsprings sound. This album is nothing short of disaster. I was extremely shocked by how much it sounded like a carbon copy of a emo band. Have we gone back to the eighties where everyone is doing the same thing. Have we replaced teased up aquanet hair with guys who wear size 4 girl jeans and die their spikey hair black. The Offspring has lost it’s intensity and cleaverness.
August 28th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
I would say this album is just plain bad. The Offspring sound is almost gone, with traces of it in Hammerhead, Trust in You and a small number of the other songs.
They have sold their souls to the public and just like Green Day’s recent singles, people will love them for it, and fans will feel disappointed.
September 5th, 2008 at 8:33 am
Great Review!
I remember when I heard the news of The Offspring releasing a new album that was going to be called “Chinese Democracy”. I was really excited as I have been a fan of them for over ten years and they hadn’t produced anything since Splinter.
Then the album name changed to “Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace
” due to Guns and Roses lawsuit implying that they stole their yet unreleased album name.
I also remember when I got the album and it was so different from their previous ones that I was really put out and dissapointed. I put it to the side and just listened to their previous songs.
After a few days I picked the new album again and decided to give it another go. That is when the songs started to sound familiar to me, and after a few playthroughs it hit me.
This album is probably one of their greatest to day, along with the ever so popular Ixnay and Smash. It has so many different components and variety that it takes a little while to let the songs hook you.
Dexter himself said that “Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace” was never meant to be a Smash clone, but they would be going back to their roots with it ala Smash.
Offspring has been around way longer than GreenDay, so assuming that they sound like them would be innapropiate and if anything people should say that GreenDay sounds like The Offspring.
As a conclusion, “Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace” is a superb album with a lot of variety for newcomer and fans that have grown out of them, while maintaining the familiarity of their sound and lyrics let them be serious, funny or sad.
The tracks take a while to get used to but once they grab you, you won’t be able to escape their old and realize that The Offspring is Back and they are not growing stale and repetitive.
September 5th, 2008 at 8:50 am
Ugh, I always make typos in my first posts. “Chinese Democracy” Changed to “Splinter”
September 29th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
The album just lacks the MOJO that Offspring used to have.