Review: The Offspring – Splinter
The Offspring have had a somewhat rocky past, but when you look at the rest of the music industry, with bands coming and going as fast as their first track hits the radio, its nice to see something consistent over all these years. And what better band to keep consistent that my absolute favorite band ever?
After jumping the indie label ship that is Epitaph for the corporate seeding of Sony, The Offspring released Ixnay on the Hombre, an album many, wrongfully deducted, as horrible only because of the hard feelings they had against the band for “selling-out.” Still Ixnay, and the next two albums to follow, Americana and Conspiracy of One showed a progression of the type of music the band was producing. Americana was filled with catchy riffs, even catchier tunes, including the old-but-still-good “Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)” and “Why Don’t You Get A Job.” The Offspring are back now with the album formerly known as Chinese Democracy, Splinter.
Continuing the nauseating trend of pointless intro tracks, The Offspring give us “Neocon” which, at the very least, gets us ready for the rest of the album, unlike bands like Linkin Park or Limp Bizkit who basically waste away the entire first track. The highlight of the album is the Goldfinger-like ska “The Worst Hangover Ever” which also keeps The Offspring’s humor alive previously seen on every single one of their albums, beginning with “Bad Habit” on Smash. “Da Hui” and “The Noose” both bring back memories of the harder punk styling of the band seen on their self titled release and Ignition. The radio friendly, pop-inspired “Hit That” provides a good door way for future fans to discover the band.
Dexter and the guys really shine when it comes to making memorable songs and infusing humor into their music, never, aside from a few instances, taking anything too seriously that you can’t crack a smile. Rounding out the album the laugh riot, “When You’re in Prison” which has a distinct 1950s tone and sound to it and gives you ample advice on how to handle yourself in the joint. Sure it isn’t a song, but is surely worth placement on the CD.
The biggest disappointment I have with the CD, and is becoming a repeating trend among CDs these days, is the overall length. The disc only has 10 actual tracks minus the intro and not-quite-a-song ending track. This sort of thing could lead a man to piracy. What that leaves you with is a disc that can almost be listened to in moderate journey around town. I will never know the amount of work that goes into making a CD, but with three years of development time, I think we were all hoping for just a little bit more on the return. Still, any Offspring fan will be overjoyed with the bands journey back to their punk roots as well as the “splinter” into the type of music they began to dabble in on Conspiracy of One.
