The Offspring have long been a band of surprising depth, somehow managing to juxtapose the day-glo energy of tracks like Pretty Fly (For A White Guy) and Original Prankster with the emotional punch of Gone Away and the seething anger of Keep ‘Em Separated. It’s a difficult line to walk, and The Offspring haven’t always got it right, but their albums have always been entertaining, even if they haven’t all hit the quality of Smash along the way. In all honesty, I’d largely given up hope of a new album thanks to the nine-year gap since 2012’s patchy Days Go By, and yet here the band are with a brand new offering, Let The Bad Times Roll, and a damn good one at that. Who’d have thunk it?
Despite the lengthy absence, The Offspring seem remarkably unchanged by the turmoil that has engulfed the world since their last offering. True, the lyrics are a little darker and more worn than previously, but musically the band are on point, delivering eleven solid tracks (twelfth track Lullaby is little more than a reprise) that hit home with surprising force. The album positively explodes with This Is Not Utopia but if the chugging guitar sounds familiar, the adventurous percussion of Pete Parada takes the track in a subtly different direction. Bob Rock’s production is typically solid, giving the band plenty of depth, while Dexter’s lyrics are painfully on the nose and delivered with a potent sense of fury. Despite harking back to Americana musically, Let The Bad Times Roll once again sees the lyrics referencing the febrile times in which we live, the band seeking to make the audience feel good even as the world around them seems so bad and, you know what, it works. Damn, perhaps we needed The Offspring more than we thought. A rather darker piece of music, albeit with a strong beat at its core, Behind Your Walls is an emotional appeal with great vocal harmonies and then Army Of One crash lands with genuine force. Drawing on the surf guitar of Smash and the layered harmonies that have long been at the band’s heart, it’s one of the best songs The Offspring have unleashed in years, and it’s hard not to get swept up in the energy of the delivery. The first half of the record conclude with the rolling tom thunder of Breaking These Bones, a taut track that jumps from the AC/DC vibe of its ringing power chords to a more typical Offspring vibe and back in not even three-minutes.
Another track that wouldn’t sound out of place on Smash, Coming For You is a mid-paced punk-n-roller with a killer chorus. It kicks off the album’s second half and it has one hell of a strut to it. In all honesty, a track that the album could do without, We Never Have Sex Anymore may cast a knowing look at growing into middle age, but lyrical honesty can cut both ways, and this is one area of middle-age life that need not be immortalised in song. It’s followed by a wacky take on In The Hall Of The Mountain King because, well why not, and the band prove themselves surprisingly dextrous in the tackling (although the fade out at the end is a tad ropey). Kids in crisis is the theme of The Opioid Diaries, and it’s a stabbing punk blast with genuine anger driving its riffs. Pulling the same trick as Splinter’s Da Hui, Hassan Chop is The Offspring unleashing a full-on punk assault and it’s great to hear them rocking out with such obvious vigour. Having not really looked at the track listing, I was taken totally by surprise to hear a beautifully arranged version of Ixnay On The Hombre’s smash hit Gone Away emerge from the speakers. Always a track that was full of heart, the new arrangement should be shmaltzy but, thanks to a particularly poignant performance from Dexter, it lands as a tribute to all those who have lost their lives in the last twelve to eighteen months. It’s actually heart breaking, and it fits into the album’s overall motif perfectly. It leaves the short Lullaby to see things out, reprising Let The Bad Times Roll and re-purposing it as a sweet coda to the record.
Let The Bad Times Roll is exactly the bright, bold album that is needed at this point in time. With Bob Rock behind the desk and the band firing on all cylinders, the album comes across as a best of, drawing upon the gamut of the band’s career and landing the majority of its punches with real force. The slight misstep of We Never Have Sex Anymore aside, this is an album that uses anger as an energy, (especially on This Is Not Utopia, The Opioid Diaries and Hassan Chop), while the surprise reworking of Gone Away is utterly heart breaking in its simple sincerity. I didn’t realise just how much I missed The Offspring, but I am sure glad to have them back. 9
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