Offspring

Splinter

Tracklist

(Vinyl)

A1		Neocon
A2		The Noose
A3		Long Way Home
A4		Hit That
A5		Race Against Myself
A6		(Can't Get My) Head Around You
B1		The Worst Hangover Ever

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* Items below may differ depending on the release.

Review

Halfway through Splinter, the Offspring's first album in three years, there's a song written from the vantage point of a young drinker with a god-awful hangover: "It hurts so bad, I'm never gonna drink again/At least not till next weekend." One reason a nineteen-year-old band with hardcore-punk roots can feel comfortable writing frat-boy-friendly songs is that in the Offspring's Cali-punk world, progress is less about maturity than about finding faster beats and bigger riffs.

Splinter does have its share of serious moments, as on… Read More

the opener, "Neocon," a vague, Fugazi-esque statement of purpose ("We will not compromise/We will never lose to you"). But mostly Splinter relies on a familiar collection of party-hearty and slamming sounds: catchy pogo punk ("Long Way Home"), sludgy pseudo-grunge ("Race Against Myself"), reggae-lite jams ("The Worst Hangover Ever") and lighthearted ditties about romantic dysfunction ("Spare Me the Details"). Ironically, Splinter drags when the Offspring are most faithful to their roots -- trad-punk numbers such as "Lightning Rod" are a bit too reverential. But like jokey pioneers the Ramones, the Offspring could keep riding their dumb humor and smart riffs well into middle age.

CHRISTIAN HOARD
(RS 938/939, December 25, 2003)

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