NoFX
The Decline

THE REVIEW

As my first experience as a reviewer, I’ll propose a little gem often hidden in the discography of the giants of melodic hardcore NoFX.

Anyone who gets their hands on it should know that it's an EP (with very attractive packaging, try to find the original!) containing a single song, a short, intense, epic, high-octane ride, one of the quintet's best performances ever. You will notice how the complete result is a bizarre, yet cohesive and well-executed, collage of different tracks "glued" together with great imagination. From the explosive intro to the memorable finale/chorus/leitmotif, a whistleable yet melancholic trumpet line, this CD is exhilarating in its melodies, fun in its ska breaks, and also knows how to provoke thought by leveraging themes that Fat Mike will favor starting with "War On Errorism" onward: politics, society, media are dealt with the rebellious and anarchic spirit expected from punk in general, bolstered by lyrics that, like little stilettos, target the soft underbelly of that America which in 1999 was about to enter the transition period from whimsical Clinton to the unlikely George W. Bush. The production sticks to the hyper-careful standards typical of "So Long... And Thanx For All The Shoes," meaning very clean yet powerful sounds that support a very good performance by the band.

If you haven't figured it out yet, my advice is to get hold of what I love to call a "hardcore suite" as soon as possible, and to listen to it with attention and heart: it will be able to give you indelible and lasting emotions that will resurface as goosebumps every time you hit the play button.

"One more pill to kill the pain..."