Rancid - Indestructible
The pendulum has swung again. After the critically praised but fan panned "Life Won't Wait", Rancid dropped the reggae/punk Clash pretensions and returned with the straight up punk record "Rancid" (not to be confused with their also straight punk debut "Rancid"). On "Indestructible" we see them retreat from the frenzied pace of their last effort with a return to the ska/roots/punk combo they popularized on "Out Come The Wolves" but with a big dose of the slower, rocksteady style that emerged on "Life Won't Wait". This means this album is their most stylistically diverse to date with the songs ranging from a couple straight ska songs to their patented bass heavy punk rock songs to several slower, sing along songs that bring back memories of "Life Won't Wait". People might be rolling their eyes at a return to that sound but, although these aren't as energetic as the faster cuts, they are impeccably written with big hooks and big choruses so they hardly slow down the record at all.
The one area I do have a problem with is the overall level of quality on the faster songs. The slow songs are solid with good melodies but a few of the fast songs lack the distinctiveness of previous records. For instance, "Let's Go" has 23 songs on it but every single one has its own personality and I like every one. On "Indestructible", there are some good fast punk songs like "Spirit of '87", "Born Frustrated", "Ivory Coast" and the title track but there's an equal amount of generic fast cuts as well. This is a shame because this is arguably the first Rancid record to have more than a couple filler songs and ironically they are the fast ones. Given the quality of the slower songs, it seems like they would have been more successful if they wrote a few more slow songs and just went for another "Life Won't Wait" album or just cut the filler songs instead of trying to keep their average 18-20 songs per album tradition.
Overall this record is almost as good as previous ones as the majority of the songs, fast and slow, are extremely catchy but you can't ignore the few bad apples that drag down the overall experience. These relatively few hiccups means this record doesn't stack up favorably to their stellar back catalog but it's still better and more distinctive than almost any punk band out there right now. The big question is whether this is the start of a long slide or just a minor bump in the road. I know their side projects are keeping them busy but hopefully they take the time to make the next record enjoyable from start to finish, just like all their other albums.
The one area I do have a problem with is the overall level of quality on the faster songs. The slow songs are solid with good melodies but a few of the fast songs lack the distinctiveness of previous records. For instance, "Let's Go" has 23 songs on it but every single one has its own personality and I like every one. On "Indestructible", there are some good fast punk songs like "Spirit of '87", "Born Frustrated", "Ivory Coast" and the title track but there's an equal amount of generic fast cuts as well. This is a shame because this is arguably the first Rancid record to have more than a couple filler songs and ironically they are the fast ones. Given the quality of the slower songs, it seems like they would have been more successful if they wrote a few more slow songs and just went for another "Life Won't Wait" album or just cut the filler songs instead of trying to keep their average 18-20 songs per album tradition.
Overall this record is almost as good as previous ones as the majority of the songs, fast and slow, are extremely catchy but you can't ignore the few bad apples that drag down the overall experience. These relatively few hiccups means this record doesn't stack up favorably to their stellar back catalog but it's still better and more distinctive than almost any punk band out there right now. The big question is whether this is the start of a long slide or just a minor bump in the road. I know their side projects are keeping them busy but hopefully they take the time to make the next record enjoyable from start to finish, just like all their other albums.
