Well, well, well, after nine long years, the Offspring has returned with their first new album and boy, is it a dud! I wish I could write something nicer, but Jesus, when half the album is either a joke or sounds like shit, there’s nothing you can really write. From the opening blast of “This Is Not Utopia,” you really hear how fifty-something Dexter Holland sounds and wow, has his voice changed for the worse. He no longer sounds like the glory days of 1998 and the mixing of this particular song is godawful. Bob Rock produced this thirty-three minute weird little thing and it doesn’t even sound like he’s behind the board.
The only good tracks here are “Behind Your Walls,” the excellent “Army Of One,” which sounds like Offspring of old, and “Breaking These Bones.” That’s literally it. There are more negative things to write about than positive. I used to love the Offspring; I still worship the Americana album from 1998 and former drummer Ron Welty is one of the most underrated drummers of ‘90s alt rock. But this isn’t that band anymore. They even fired longtime bassist Greg K and replaced him with H20’s Todd Morse.
There’s a joke version of the classical riff “In The Hall Of The Mountain King,” a minute long reprise of the title track called “Lullaby,” a throwaway “We Don’t Have Sex Anymore,” and a completely unnecessary and unasked for piano-driven version of one of their biggest hits, 1997’s “Gone Away.” Between that and a re-recording of the six-year-old single “Coming For You,” one has to ask if the band has any real ideas left.
Even the title track, also the lead single, is crap and sounds pitiful coming from a bunch of old men trying to be as cool as they were twenty-five years ago; it’s clear they are as far away from that era as they could possibly ever get. This is one of the most disappointing records I’ve heard in awhile and it might be time for this once great band to finally throw in the towel.
