The Offspring - Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace
Rating
RIYL
RancidBad Religion
Alkaline Trio
Tracklist
1. Half-Truism2. Trust in You
3. You're Gonna Go Far, Kid
4. Hammerhead
5. A Lot Like Me
6. Takes Me Nowhere
7. Kristy, Are You Doing Okay?
8. Nothingtown
9. Stuff Is Messed Up
10. Fix You
11. Let's Hear It for Rock Bottom
12. Rise and Fall
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The first single off of Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace, “Hammerhead,” sounds like vintage Offspring: fast, loud, aggressive as hell, and all balanced together by a killer riff. Yet, the song is different, eschewing the tongue-in-cheek sarcasm of their earlier hits, taking a darker, strangely allegorical path. The song juxtaposes images of violence over seas and in the classroom, suggesting that the violence is becoming so ingrained in people’s psyche (“Bang, bang, it hammers in my head!”) that for some the distinction between the two images has evaporated, turning the line “I’ll take a life / that others may live,” into “You can all hide behind your desks now / you can cry ‘teacher come help me.’”
“Hammerhead” is the band’s best song since “The Kids Aren’t Alright,” taking the lyrical and musical tone of “Kids” and refining it, creating the creepiest and most sophisticated song of their career. “Hammerhead” is indicative of the direction that The Offspring envisioned for Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace, where the songs shrug off the sophomoric tone of “Hit That” and “Pretty Fly for a White Guy,” and take on bigger themes with a more serious tone.
With the exception of “Hammerhead,” the rest of the album fails to live up to the band’s aspirations. Songs like “Fix You” and “Rise and Fall” sound like they were copied off of Green Day’s American Idiot, failing to retain any of the charm or tact of that album, coming off as ham-handed and, ultimately, boring songs. The album lacks The Offspring’s traditional wit, which made old classics like “Smash” such great songs. The band, in the effort of making a more mature album, has abandoned their most vital asset. Even the band’s most serious songs like “The Kid’s Aren’t Alright” and “Hammerhead” have a kind of slyness to them, feeling as if Dexter Holland is winking at us as he plunges off of the deep end.
For most of the album, the band strays away from their classic formula of writing aggressive, riff heavy songs in favor of a more pop-friendly sound. These songs fare better with tracks like “You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid” and “Let’s Hear It For Rock Bottom,” but ultimately they feel like an imitation, Holland sounding like he would rather be singing something else. Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace is an attempt at musical progression; a band’s feeble attempt at trying to widen their musical palette. Yet, in The Offspring’s case, there wasn’t any real need for musical expansion. While steps forward like “Hammerhead” are welcome, the full on plunge into so-called “maturity” or “seriousness” wasn’t necessary. As the old saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
--Matt McGraw
Comments
While this isn't their best, obviously, it's their best since ixnay, at least for me this is the first time since that record came out that I actually sit down and bang my head to the songs in its entirely.
Green Brook, NJ
please reverse time and delete every record you've released after conspiracy of one.
thank you,
tim.
Markham, ON
Seriously? Man, I haven't listened to this CD, but that song is awful. I loved The Offspring, but it's such a terrible song. The flow of it is just so awkward.
P.S. This is what the alphabet would look like if you removed Q and R.
Atascadero, CA
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