The Offspring
Days Go By

Before reviewing (rather, talking about) the new effort by the Offspring, I need to briefly recap their career because this album has left me bewildered. I need to gather my thoughts. 

They formed in 1984. A few years later came the debut. 1989, year 1 after Suffer, "The Offspring" is released, little commercial success, but the album rocks. Three years later, it's time for well-deserved commercial success, "Ignition" has wide sales and occupies a spot reserved for the pearls of skate punk/melodic hardcore. 1994, Smash, released under Epitaph, is the definitive consecration, 11 million copies sold, sales record for an independent label, and an album that is one of the highest points in its genre. In 1997, it's "Ixnay On The Hombre," another awesome album. The year after with Americana, they sell a massive amount of copies and plummet into the abyss, a really embarrassing album, an insult to the band's name. At the dawn of the third millennium, "Conspiracy Of One" is a partial recovery, while "Splinter" is listenable but does not do the Offspring name justice. Finally, in 2008 "Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace" sees the light, same story as "Splinter", a bit yes, a bit no. And on June 26, 2012, "Days Go By" is released.

Why did I write all this terribly boring preamble? Because the Offspring have made it, but they've also fallen again. Glass half full. Literally. It's just that...

"The Future Is Now" is an amazing start, something that makes you hope for a new "Smash." Fantastic, I say. We proceed and find "Secrets From The Underground" which sounds like a piece from the previous album, listenable but once again does not do the band justice. Immediately after, we find the title track, the first "No" of the album, an utterly avoidable radio hit. "Turning Into You" is an awesome track, I won't say more. Next is "Hurting As One", nice yes but nothing special. Now comes the pain:

"Cruising California (Bumpin' in my Trunk)" Ouch...is it a Katy Perry cover? "Pretty Fly" in comparison is a mas.....STOP! Hold on...apparently, it's a joke, a mockery of mainstream music, basically pop against pop. But remember that they composed crap of the caliber of "Pretty Fly," was that a joke too? Something like this, they just shouldn't have done it, period. Next are "All I Have Left Is You" an unnecessary ballad and another fall in style and "Oc Guns"...I don't feel like repeating the same speech made for the Katy Perry cover. Follows a classic from "Ignition" re-recorded for the 20th anniversary of the album's release: "Dirty Magic", finally a breath of fresh air after the hell of the previous 3 tracks. "I Wanna Secret Family" is a somewhat too pop track but comparing it to the central part of the album...okay! Follows ecstasy, "Dividing By Zero" is perhaps the best Offspring song since the distant 2000...AWESOME! I won't say more. "Slim Pickens Does the Right Thing and Rides Bomb To Hell" is another truly great track, the best possible closure for this work.

This album bewildered me because it is a half crap and not in the sense that it's bad, it really is! Here they reach rather high peaks and fall into abysses where the bottom is not visible. 

During the recordings, they needed a motivator or something like that, someone who would say to them "You are the Offspring, damn it! You can't give me an album that's half awesome, half crap!".

Glass half full...half empty... filled halfway... emptied halfway... AASSAVSWA! Well, you get it.