I don’t believe that the Offspring are sellouts even though they did leave Epitaph for the bigger, more financially secure Columbia/Sony. There is only so far you can go on a independent label (don’t tell that to Pennywise, because they have proved me wrong already), but the Offspring saw a changing in the wind and decided to leave the home of Smash and release Ixnay on the Hombre as a full commercial release with the help of a major label.

What people did was label the CD, without listening to the music on it, and this CD is certainly not Smash II proving that The Offspring still have it, even on their fourth album release. Ixnay features both catchy punk tunes (“Don’t Pick It Up,” “Meaning of Life”) and songs that almost seem like 80s hair-band rock ballads (“Gone Away,” “Amazed”). The Offspring continue to change up what they are doing to stay with the times, while not compromising who they are.

Ixnay on the Hombre further diversifies the Offspring’s music. With “Don’t Pick It Up” they speak of not always believing what something is until you further examine it, or they could mean you shouldn’t think a piece of shit is really a candy bar. With “Gone Away” (my personal favorite song) lead singer Dexter Holland tells of losing a love, and asks to trade places with his lover who has passed.

Trendy or not, the songs on Ixnay show that the Offspring have the staying power to be around eight years after the release of Smash.

While Ixnay on the Hombre doesn’t diversify upon what has already been done in the punk genre, it further intensifies that the Offspring are a band to contend with, and they will continue to make good music far into the next century.

This is where it all started for me and punk music. This CD brought me into the wonderful world that we call punk, rebellion, alternative, or just “fast-talking-noise.” With Smash The Offspring shed the shackles of the underworld to be brought into the eye of society and show that they had more than enough talent to compete with the “talented” bands of the early 90s.

To current day, Smash is the biggest selling rock album from and independent label, Epitaph Records, as well as it should be. Even today songs like “Come Out and Play,” “Self Esteem,” and “Gotta Get Away,” are still tearing up the airwaves a full eight years since they were released.

The three afore mentioned songs are the best on the album, but the CDs title track “Smash” is also my favorite of the disc. So good, in fact, that I based an entire school essay on the lines. “I’m not a trendy asshole / Do what I want / Do what I feel like / I’m not a trendy asshole / Who gives a fuck if it’s good enough for you / because I am alive.” Just those simple lines open so much for discussion and homage.

There may be some that now call the Offspring hypocritical because they are just the thing they said they weren’t, trendy, but I tend to disagree. The Offspring have swayed their style in the past few years to a more light hearted tone, leaving the dark wayward songs of “Come Out and Play,” a take on a gang war and “Self-Esteem” about a man and his user girlfriend looking to score all the time. With the release of Americana and to some extent Ixnay on the Hombre The Offspring have proved that they can change with the times, so they aren’t fazed out, much like grunge was.

The song’s most interesting, and true to life road rage experience “Bad Habit” will have you listening to the words over and over again, as the song is a perfect example of some less than perfect driver “showing his piece.”

Smash is the perfect album for someone looking to enjoy a good 40 minute CD and be introduced to punk music. It is not as hardcore as some of the other punk bands out there, so it is great to ease you in on the experience.

Pennywise’s music is like something good you know will always be there. No matter what disc you put in your player, or what track you listen to it is still as good as the first time you heard it, I guess that is why this is the band’s seventh studio album, and why it doesn’t look like they are slowing down.

The disc starts off with the irreverent lead up to the band’s first single “Fu*k Authority” that has garnered a lot of playtime on the radio airwaves as of late. The single (a bash on the government none the less) is one of the CDs most striking tracks along with “Divine Intervention,” and “Who’s On Your Side.”

While the disc doesn’t offer as many lingering tunes as 1999’s Straight Ahead or 2000’s Live at the Key Club, Land of the Free? does offer the one thing that Pennywise is known for, all out punk music in a rebellious, yet contained explosion that keeps this album in your CD player for months to come.

While the album predated the terrorist attacks of September 11th, it should not be held down or back in any way for the negative spindle it launches upon the organized government of the United States. Would you rather have someone sing their troubles as an outlet, or plummet a 747 into a building?

One thing that Pennywise does make more than a few references to on the new disc is that of disorganized religion in the song “My God.” While I won’t go into details here (I don’t want to die a martyr at this time) the disc lives up to the true nature of the first single, and does want to totally fu*k authority.

Unfortunately, for the industry as a whole, the album doesn’t offer anything totally new that we haven’t heard before in the genre, which at the moment I believe only Bad Religion did with their New America album in 2000. Still, like I stated earlier, the more Pennywise we get the better, and this CD definitely fits in with that.

Is there one thing that makes this album rock? Yes, and it is called track number one. To hear Marilyn Manson’s cover on “Tainted Love” is worth the price of this CD. Sure you could use Kazaa or some other P2P device to download the track, but while the Manson track is what you paid for, the rest of the CD comes along as a bonus, and a worthy one at that.

While most of the tracks have appeared else where, or have been around a while “The Metro” by System of a Down appeared on the Dracula 2000 Soundtrack, and Orgy’s rendition of “Blue Monday” appeared on their excellent Candyass disc, this is the first time all of these tracks have been together, legally.

While the Smashing Pumpkin’s cover of “Never Let Me Down Again” comes up strangely disappointing, the rest of the tracks on the disc stand out as well known 80s songs, covered and re-mastered by some of today’s hottest names in rock.

The disc never really fails to disappoint, and the 4 out of 5 [Editor’s Note: Under our old rating system] rating is only because a great many of these tracks have appeared elsewhere, are aren’t dramatically new. It seems as though the producers of this album would have rather used old recordings from these bands, than have some new ones recorded. While Mest does make the cut on the CD, I would have liked to seen some more punk bands (since we know they do the best covers) of the likes of New Found Glory, Offspring, and maybe sprinkle in some Green Day for added flavor.

All in all, superior disc, and one of the best soundtracks in years.

Orange County’s soundtrack, as mentioned in our movie review, has an elective mix from a number of high profile bands lending new music to the movie. Headlining the effort is a brand-spanking new track from fellow Californians The Offspring. Their new track “Defy You” does just that. It is an anti-establishment sediment that literally gives the finger to the man, stating that “I am alive.”

While The Offspring’s new track is leading the CD, don’t you think it will stop there. The new Foo Fighter’s track “The One” has been getting massive airplay as we await their new disc this summer.

Crazy Town is also featured on the soundtrack with their past hit (read: old) “Butterfly.” Also making an appearance is the generally poppy Cake with “Shadow Stabbing” and punksters Bad Ronald with “1st Time.” The ladder track feature some generally funny lyrics about a man’s first time.

Brian Wilson’s new track “Lay Down Burden” is a very mellow track that seems to fit nicely in the middle of the CD. While I was disappointed with the poor quality of Social Distortions live rendition of “Story of my Life,” it is always nice to hear from Social D.

Most of the tracks featured on this soundtrack are actually in the film (a rare occurrence these days) so if you see the movie and like the music, you can bet it will be on here. Over all a very good, if not average, soundtrack.

Resident Evil is one of the very first games you think about that would work great on the big screen. For the most part bits and pieces of the game, have been inspired by movies, so the jump seems more than logical. Finally, after more than four years of waiting, we are getting Resident Evil on the big screen. While I hope the movie satisfies the legacy of the games, the soundtrack left me strangely disappointed.

Let me just go on a small rant here. Why must you edit songs on soundtracks? I mean, come on, the movie is obviously rated R, meaning that no one under 17 should be in there without a parent (in the perfect world), so why butcher half-way decent songs on the soundtrack to make you feel like you are listening to a mid-day radio show? I mean radio stations around the country have the balls to say “shit,” “fu*k,” and various other words on the air, albeit, late a night when everyone from the FCC is sleeping, but why on a CD such as this one.

I think I was somewhat lenient in my score, I originally wanted to give the album a 2.0 for the fact that I don’t appreciate being sold an edited album to appease corporate suits who just want to be able to market something with the Resident Evil name to children. You market the games, that’s bad, you market the R rated movie, that’s worse, so make the CD clean and make everyone happy? No, it doesn’t work that way.

As for the material itself, the CD still manages to make up some ground, but not much. Marilyn Manson’s “Fight Song” has been remixed, although it doesn’t sound as great as the original version, Manson’s lyrics are so washed up and faint in this Slipknot remix, it is almost impossible to hear anything but the banging of drums and guitars. To their own credit, Slipknot’s original song, “My Plague (New Abuse Remix)” is a great lead off track. The rest of the CD features regurgitated songs from Static-X, Adema, and The Crystal Method. While all great songs, nothing I don’t already own.

The Mudvayne song “Dig” is remixed here also, and comes up sounding great, the song is very strong to begin with, but the remix adds to the intense feeling of the sound. Next up in the “What the Hell” category is what the hell is Method Man doing on this CD? I would just love an option to scratch that part of the disc off, the song is horrible, who even employs this “artist?”

Rather than releasing a separate score and soundtrack, Sony opted to have them both included on one record, a nice bonus to the end of the CD is the four track score produced by Marilyn Manson. If only the entire CD was composed of great stuff like this, it might be a higher score up there.

In any event, I am hoping that the movie doesn’t let me down like the soundtrack did, but if you are really a fan of the series, and have to have all the RE merchandise (like me), then pick up the CD today, it may not be the best, but it sure isn’t Glitter.

Five years, it’s been five years since the release of the last Nine Inch Nails’ album. After all this time after The Downward Spiral and the classic single, “Closer,” Trent Reznor finally releases a new NIN album. Complete with 2 CDs and one huge CD pullout booklet, the album doesn’t disappoint.

One thing you will find in this album is a constant reminder of how much life sucks. Constant words like decay, damaged, and void will lead you in a direction of pity, and self-deluded depression.

The amazing sounds, ambient or not, make this CD a true industrial masterpiece.

This album, does have one downfall, that isn’t that much of a big deal, but it does need to be mentioned. Unfortunately for this CD set, it doesn’t need to be a CD set. Most of the stuff on the second disk is just repeats of the stuff on the first. Sure they are different songs, but it is mostly the same stuff again. This isn’t a really bad thing, because the stuff on the first disk is very good.

Also, as you listen to the CD you will notice that only in one song does Trent refer to the word “we”. This would be in “We’re In This Together.” All of the other tracks on the CDs refer to “you” in the singular form. From high screams of intensity to low bows of soft comforting music, then have both going on at the same time, and you have have the picture of this new CD.

After hearing numerous CDs from them, The Downward Spiral, Pretty Hate Machine, and Broken, I can honestly say that The Fragile is the best of the them all.

A few songs stand out on the CD. The recently released single “Into the Void” stands out on the 2nd Disk along with a chopped up vocal-fest of “StarF*ckers,” Inc.. The first disk contains songs like “We’re in this Together” and “The Day the World Went Away.” All with the beauty of the everlasting gloom upon them.

If you do like Nine Inch Nails in the slightest then you need to pick up The Fragile, for 18 dollars you get 2CDs packed with awesome tracks from one of the best trend-setting bands in today’s music industry.

It is sad to say that the sales of this record have been slow to pick up since the albums release. When the CD debuted at number one on the charts late last year, everyone thought the best, but as it slipped further and further down the charts, the sales began to dry up. Trent, himself, has spoken about the current industry and the situation of his latest CD in an interview with CD Now.

Gravity Kills broke into the music scene with their high powered hit “Guilty” which propelled their debut album up the charts. The song was also featured playing in the background of the David Fincher hit Se7en. Gravity Kill’s self-title album spawned a serious of singles that found their way onto soundtracks and remix albums. The Mortal Kombat soundtrack featured a demo (and edited) version of “Goodbye” while the Lords of Acid created one of their best known remixes with their song “Down,” and an even cooler remix was released from the song “Blame.”

When Gravity Kill’s second album, not counting the remix CD Manipulated which featured no new work from the trio, came into stores it was met with high expectations, but those who expected Gravity Kills to escape the Sophomore curse were wrong, and Perversion was a major disappointment to some die-hard GK fans.

This brings us up to their third release, Superstarved* which puts the band back into the so-called saddle that they rode so high upon with Gravity Kills. Superstarved* is more of a mix between the guitar-laden first album, and the techno/industrial influenced second release. Superstarved* surprising first single “One Thing” is so reminiscent of “Guilty” that you might even mistake them from coming off of the same album together.

“Love, Sex, and Money” sounds eerily like a Marilyn Manson song even by the title. The cover song “Personal Jesus” makes you wonder what CD you actually inserted into your stereo with it’s very country guitar, that skips away and makes way for a very hard guitar. Earlier last year Gravity Kills posted demo versions of “Enemy” and “Personal Jesus” for fans to download. A demo version is an unmixed song, and it shows. The new tracks differ quite a bit from the originals even by name. A track named “Shake It” was also demo-released, but it doesn’t have appeared to make it onto the final album.

All in all the CD will make you somewhat forget about Perversion and remember how good Gravity Kills was. While the albums only fault is sounding maybe a bit too much like the previously mentioned discs, that is nothing hard to come by for true fans of the band.

If you were a fan and lost track of the band, never have been a fan, or have been waiting for a new album from these guys for a long time, you won’t be let down, Superstarved* is an awesome album.