THE OFFSPRING – Days Go By

The American Punk/Hard Rock Band The Offspring have released their ninth studio album, Days Go By. This album took a lengthy time to complete as the band first began writing and recording material late in 2009. Most Metal fans are familiar with The Offspring from their string of hits in the 1990’s which include classics like “Come Out And Play”, “Self-Esteem”, and “Gone Away.” Unfortunately, because of their mostly mainstream following, many core Metal fans have neglected to take the band’s work very seriously. However, their more recent efforts have strayed from the frumpy, Party Rock themes into a more serious undertone. Although The Offspring still stays true to their core Punk roots, some of the material on Days Go By is bound to turn some heads.

The signature sound of The Offspring has always been led by the high pitched piercing vocals of Dexter Holland and the power chord guitar riffs of Kevin “Noodles” Wasserman. Holland has been with the band since its inception and his vocals have not undergone much of a transition over the years. Holland always sings with a natural, fervent shout; and typically slightly off key. His style has always been reminiscent of Anthrax’s Joey Belladonna. With most of the tracks on Days Go By being performed in minor chords, his vocals are toned down somewhat compared to previous efforts and Holland does perform these tracks with a much more emotional effort as well to match the intense level of the composition.

The opening track on Days Go By is an excellent example of the passionate usage of Holland’s vocal ability. The entire up-tempo track is filled with an ardent and powerful guitar riff which compliments extraordinarily well with the enthusiastic vocals. In fact, most of the work by guitarist Noodles is not that different from previous albums, however, because of the overuse of minor chords, the compositions definitely come off as being a more committed level of performance.

No Offspring album would be complete without a signature “novelty song”, which seems to accompany each and every album. Many of these have become such well-known classics as “Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)” and “Why Don’t You Get A Job.” Days Go By presents a track titled “Cruising California (Bumpin’ In My Trunk)” and as with previous songs of this nature, the lyrics provide well added comic relief to many of the intensified tracks on the album.

Days Go By provides the listener a quality dose of both meaningful and thought-provoking song arrangements. This album does have a greater sense of completeness than its predecessors as well. An added bonus for Offspring fans featured is a re-recording of the song “Dirty Magic” from their 1992 album Ignition. This is certainly one of their better works, as we are dealing with an older and wiser version of The Offspring, their music is maturing right along with them.