The Offspring
Splinter

What makes you want to devour an entire album or discard it completely? Well, usually you listen to the first single, maybe the second, and you should get an indication of the album and decide whether to listen to it or not... but no..

Yes, maybe in most cases, it's exactly like this, but not always, just have "Splinter" by Offspring in your hands, who try again after the almost unnoticed "Conspiracy Of One" (at most, some remember it for that track "I want you bad" which was the background for the college antics of American Pie 2, there you go..)

In fact, like many of you, I believe, listened to the single "Hit that" and then gave up on listening to the entire CD. It's worth noting that the lead single isn't that great, catchy as much as you want but somewhat trivial with keyboards and some electronic touches in the background. But this seems to be a black sheep of the album, so let's get into the details. The days of "Smash" and "Ixnay On The Hombre" are over, the band has lost its appeal to many, yet there's something tasty cooking.

Take "The noose" and "Da hui", they are little gems. The first one recalls the old Offspring, a really remarkable speed-punk track with one of the most successful riffs ever. The second one, though very short, is very furious with an alluring hook.

Another track that deserves mention is definitely "Lightning rod", very nice.

However, the real flaw of the album is the worrying ups and downs it takes, and I can't even comment on "When you're in prison", nor do I understand the utility of "The worst hangover ever" except for disrupting the rhythm since it's just an anonymous ska piece. Nothing against ska, but do they want to compare past contaminations (see What happened to you, I choose, Don't pick up) with this? Those really rocked. Instead, "Spare me the details" performed with an acoustic guitar leaves quite a bit of indifference.

Luckily, there are songs like "Long way home", "Never gonna find me", and "Can't get around of you" all oriented towards pop-punk rock that bring us back to the main road and demonstrate that Offspring can still make good songs.

Also noteworthy is how the guitars in this "Splinter" become heavier at times, and the hard-rock touch underlying "Race against myself" is proof of that.

In conclusion, it must be admitted that it's a CD with a thousand aspects that contains great songs alternated with tracks (fortunately very few) of dubious utility. Even though I recommend listening to it just for the aforementioned gems. However, the bitter taste remains due to the number of available tracks, only 10, if we exclude the initial intro and the useless closing.

The rating unfortunately has to take into account some flaws, but overall it's a good album that's quite enjoyable to listen to, as long as you skip some gaudy songs.