Rancid
Indestructible

THE REVIEW

With great honor and extreme nostalgia, I set out to review the most recent and controversial work of one of the greatest Punk Bands in history, the only contemporary group to have inherited... albeit not completely, the Clash style. I review Rancid.

I would like to make a premise: Rancid was the first real band I fell in love with as a child. Punk is no longer my favorite musical genre, and I've discovered much more engaged musicians and musical genres that I dare to consider more interesting... but punk remains punk... in its simplicity, in its being direct and hitting you with songs that often don't even reach three minutes... it's a genre I must say thank you to.

With 'Indestructible', Rancid reaches their sixth album without the weight of the years being felt. The album, which has been dismissed by many as a commercial attempt to relaunch the band after signing with a major (which is a crime for a true punk band like Rancid), wasn't initially appreciated... not even by myself, but I've had the chance to reconsider. Surely, it's far from the level of "And out comes the wolves" (their third best album) and in terms of sound, it diverges greatly from the penultimate "Rancid 2000" (extremely angry and Hardcore), a fact that greatly confused fans who still had the choruses of very angry songs like "Poison" or "I am forever" ringing in their ears. 'Indestructible' is very close to the style of "Life Won't Wait," even though it maintains a more Punk vein.

The songs are 19.. many... as in all Rancid albums, so it is reasonable to expect a few lapses in style. It starts with the title track which doesn't particularly stand out except for the mention of the late John Strummer, who passed away that very year. It is followed by "Fall back down," the first single and video... a song difficult to analyze, considered extremely commercial by most, but for me, it remains a good piece... certainly not the best on the album but still beautiful. Next comes "red hot moon," a beautiful reggae track, perhaps even on par with Time Bomb, but it has the flaw of misleading the listener into thinking the album is dull, considering that after three tracks we haven't really heard anything that makes us want to pogo. Luckily, Lars comes with "David Courtney," a beautiful song that raises the album's average. "Start now" is an episode that neither disgusts us nor excites us... songs that usually appear around track 22 or 23 in Rancid albums, not fifth in the lineup. "out of control"... perhaps it's not a coincidence that it's sung by Lars again, but here we return to the hardcore of "Rancid 2000," so pogo, sweat, chills down the spine... but it doesn't last long. It is followed by "Django," a good, quite powerful song that gives new momentum to a CD that started off on the wrong foot.

"Arrested in Shanghai" is a total crap, it has nothing to do with Rancid, I don't know what the hell they were thinking, but it's crap. "travis Bickle" instead is a great song in full Rancid style... beautiful, for me, the best of the album, it would make a great impression even if included among the best albums of the group. "Menphis" is another B-side that perhaps convinces after about the thirty-second listen... but it is followed by "Spirit of 87" which is one of the best on the album, and here Rancid returns to strike... but they stop again before restarting as they churn out crap no. 2: "Ghost Band" a song that could serve as the theme for a cartoon with a chant in the chorus. "tropical london" is beautiful, romantic, but the style is that of Rancid, and it remains a great song with an excellent chorus. "roadblock" is short but angry, and it's manna from heaven. "Born frustrated" is nice but nothing more... in the series without infamy and without praise, like the following "back up against the wall" probably a B-side recovered from "Life Won't Wait." "Ivory coast" already convinces much more without breaking, but you can feel that here an extra gear is engaged which quickly loses speed with "Stand your ground" which is nothing special. Fortunately, the last one "Otherside" instead is intense and rocks.

CONCLUSION: an album poor in gems, not very fierce but with mostly beautiful songs (except for 3 or 4 episodes) and some adrenaline-pumping hits of healthy old-school Punk. It's not their worst album, despite what some might say, but we've heard them at much higher levels. We definitely hope for a more energetic return from them and with an album that fully convinces rather than half-heartedly like unfortunately this one.

FUCK FOREVER