Review Schedule

Here are the Upcoming Week's Reviews that we'll be covering:

June 17th:

Coldplay - Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends
The Offspring - Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace

June 24th:

Less Than Jake - GNV FLA
Sigur Ros - With a Buzz in Our Ears We Play Endlessly

July 1st:

Alkaline Trio - Agony and Irony
Los Lobos - Forgiven

July 8th:

Beck - Modern Guilt
Albert Hammond, Jr. - Como Te Llama?
Motley Crue - The Dirt

July 15th:

The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
John Mellancamp - Life, Death, Love and Freedom

July 22nd:

Nine Inch Nails - The Slip (CD Release Date)
Black Kids - Partie Traumatic
Candlebox - Into the Sun

July 29th:
Alice Cooper - Along Came a Spider

August 5
Hawthorne Heights - Fragile Future
Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst

August 26:
Slipkont - All Hope is Gone

September 2
Brian Wilson - That Lucky Old Sun

September 9
Ray LaMontagne - Gossip in the Grain
Joan Baez - Day After Tomorrow

September 16
James - Hey Ma

More will be added for sure.

The Offspring "Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace": De-Animation

There's a weird sort of refreshment that comes with listening to The Offspring's eighth record, which is very good news for the O.C. punk band, entering it's 25th year of existence. As you may or may not know, the band - save for an ignored Greatest Hits compilation in 2005 - have been doing a whole lotta' nothing for the better part of half a decade. In that time, emo and dance-punk have exploded, and Green Day, a band that broke out nearly simultaneously of the California punk scene, released American Idiot, which sold five million copies in the states and had eyeliner enthusiasts anticipating whatever they choose to do next over Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace.

Unfortunately for The Offspring, there's nothing quite as attention grabbing as Idiot's double-dose of #1 Pop singles "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and it's title track. But "Hammerhead", the opening single, comes damn close, and will at least give the band that "Hey, they're back" buzz. However, the song deserves better, because it may be the best thing the band has made since it's DIY Epitaph days. The band progress throughout, and yet not a second of the nearly five-minute long "Hammerhead" is filler material. It is (shockingly) the first single the band has released in years that doesn't feel Saturday-morning-cartoon-ish.

That brings me back to the title of the review. Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace is a definite attempt for the band to go back to the ethics that made everything up to the 11-million selling Americana classic punk, but still progress as a band well into it's 3rd decade recording needs to. That said, The Offspring come up a bit short on both ends, but still will manage to please both casual and hardcore fans with enough worthy downloads. The band has returned to it's roots, writing fairly straight-forward, if not a touch snarky and pathetic, songs about life as the eternal everyman. But, yes, they do progress here, and when you break down the tracks, a lot more of this is new or different territory than same ol' thang.

"Half-Truism" opens the record with a thinly-veiled reference to war and a chorus that sounds eerily similar to My Chemical Romance's "Helena". "Trust in You" and "Nothingtown"go back to the bands skate-punk days, with a touch of the filler that made 2001's Conspiracy of One ultimately forgettable. . "Let's Hear it For Rock Bottom" would sound comfortable on any MxPx record, and "Rise and Fall" evokes that dirty little AI phrase that The Offspring are clearly desiring to avoid (an interview with the LA Times claimed that Green Day's 2004 "rock opera" was a touchy subject for lead singer Dexter Holland) with an opening that clearly sounds like the aforementioned #1-selling's title tune.

Other than that, Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace finds the band stretching but not completely falling apart. "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid" mocks dance-punk while evoking Muse's "Time is Running Out", "Kristy, Are You Doing Okay" is a flat out acoustic ballad, which saves itself from falling into "Wake Me Up When September Ends"-level cheeseballs by being so uncomfortably honest, the listener is nearly left in tears. "Fix You" and "A Lot Like Me" find the band experimenting further with balladry in the vein of Conspiracy of One's "Denial, Revisited" and while there are parts of both that work, you can't help but wish one of these were left a B-side.

"Stuff is Messed Up" is a clear album standout, where The Offspring manage to be snarky, pop-culturally aware and even genuinely funny without stretching into the novelty bin, with Holland's lyrics expressing genuine pathos toward the mainstream media and advertising ("I think we're losing this fight/Sponsored by Bud Light") complete with a 20-second long "We Didn't Start the Fire"-esque rant of everything from the past decade that's been pissing him off, everything from Genocide to "LOL".

Which is where we return to the beginning, where I pointed out how refreshing this record is. Many times, when a band is gone for an extended period, the music sounds tired and downright unlistenable, just because the band is gone so long (without a band breakup or Blink-182 induced "extended hiatus) that you don't want to put the time in to listen. But The Offspring force you to put on a pair of headphones and let Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace sink it. While it's far from perfect, it's a welcome step back in the doors of rock and roll high.

Rating: 3.5 (out of 5)

What This Site Will Do

So, I really hate people who write music reviews. I feel many of them are out of touch with today's music. They slobber over indie bands that only the nerdiest person in your gang has heard of.

I wanted to write reviews about rock music for people who listen to rock music. If they are on a major label, be they alternative, mainstream, rap-rock, metal, pop-rock, punk, I'll take a listen to their records and tell you what I think.

Why should you trust me? Because I love music, and I have no affiliations with any bands, whatsoever. I've never met a rock band, I haven't bought a CD since 2001, and I'm pretty sure I have a song I like from every band that currently exists in the hard rock stratisphere.

I'll review new CDs every week, and go back to more classic records as I have time. Sunday will feature:

-Coldplay Viva La Vida
-The Offspring Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace

Meanwhile, I'll be taking requests from readers to review records they want reviewed, be it classic or modern. Just shoot me an e-mail at SMLepore@comcast.net

See you tomorrow.