Last month, The Offspring released their eighth studio album and first in nearly five years – their longest gap between albums. Titled Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace, the band made an attempt to return to their punk-metal roots. While they are able to accomplish this on the first four tracks, they veer away from it on the later tracks.
The single “Hammerhead” is very reminiscent of the material from their first two albums, The Offspring and Ignition. However, this is not so for the rest of the songs on the album. “Hammerhead” may be the best song on the album and it is easy to see why this was released above the rest of the songs.
The follow-up single to “Hammerhead” is said to be “You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid,” and has already heard airtime on many radio stations. This song does not sound like any Offspring song before it, but does have a catchy beat and figures to become as popular as past non-traditional hits for the band such as “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy).”
It’s tough to find anything good past the fourth song though. Typical Offspring albums have always had epic songs at the end, yet the song “Rise and Fall” sounds more like Green Day than the Offspring and has little to no comedic additions like the end of the title track on the album Smash and “Pay the Man” on Americana.
There are other redeeming songs on the album though; “Take Me Nowhere” is a song that sounds like a typical middle of the record Offspring song: random and short. The album also features three slow songs, much to the chagrin of several fans that were not too thrilled with “Race Against Myself” on Splinter.
The Offspring have always written songs based on the youth of today and continue to do so. While the four-year wait was worth it for many of the songs, the album still leaves fans with something to be desired from a possible ninth release.