Rancid

The long-standing punk outfit returns from a six-year hiatus with 19 bursts of aggro-guitar punk, Clash-ska and spittle-spewing vocals. Instant classics such as "Up to No Good" knock around like the Clash's "Julie's in the Drug Squad," while the skanking "I Ain't Worried" makes the case that they should always play ska. The disparate styles of the band's three singers -- Tim Armstrong, Matt Freeman and Lars Frederiksen -- keep things interesting, from prison-bound slur to natty dread patois to the near doo-wop of "Disconnected." The deluxe version includes 11 acoustic versions of album cuts.

The stats tell the story: 19 songs, 45 minutes, dozens of slogans bellowed over buzzing
major chords. The first Rancid album following a six-year recording hiatus is a Rancid
record par excellence — a cannonball blast of punk classicism, alternating between
galloping double-time punk pogos and the soulful swing that co-frontmen Tim Armstrong
and Lars Frederiksen learned from the Clash. Rancid sat out most of the Bush ye... More >