From the opening angular, grime-encrusted guitar riffs, you know you’re back in the familiar embrace of punk stalwarts Rancid.
Is it new, different, modern? No. It’s Rancid doing Rancid and ska, punk and rock lovers will flock back to this album with glee because the formula works without tweaking and remixing, guest stars, or fancy dance moves. It’s just raw punk rock.
Cold Cold Blood is a standout – a little bit Clash, a little bit Sex Pistols and a lot of bouncing, chanty goodness. The ska-infused playfulness of Where I’m Going is a joyful ode to being totally confused about “where I am or where I’ve been or where I’m going.” A deep, throaty, lived in rasp accompanies the muscular drums on Ghost Of A Chance and the energy is relentless from here on in.
Rancid still has that youthful, angry but impassioned desire to live, to create and to salute punk icons past and present through crafted tunes that make for an album designed for old-fashioned listening in full. If Rancid have survived the punk rock world this long, surely there’s at least one more album in them? Don’t say goodbye to your heroes. Say hello, we missed you Rancid. Welcome back.
