Rancid - Indestructible
There is a lot to digest here. Nineteen tracks of punk rock, which also takes in various related sub-genres and is over sooner than you would think.
The title track is hard nosed punk rock with roughly hewn yet melodic vocals. Fall Back Down, with its use of organ, is much warmer sounding and is topped off with an amazingly catchy and positive chorus. Rancid are at their best on this album when adding melody such as on the brilliantly anthemic Born Frustrated (which also features some excellent bass work courtesy of Matt Freeman) or Memphis, which is skanking, stuttering ska punk with hip hop influenced vocals on the verse and boasts a killer chorus.
A lot of the tracks have a summery feel such as Red Hot Moon's fun Caribbean tinged ska, Stand Your Ground's cool surf punk and the aforementioned Fall Back Down and Memphis. This is tops down, shirts off punk rock.
Some of the best songs are when the lead vocals aren't sung by Tim Armstrong. Tim's overdone mockney vocals are divisive, and I can't decide if they're annoying and fake or if they provide character.
Out Of Control is explosive and slightly chaotic protest punk. Arrested In Shanghai is much gentler, with a shambolic punk John Cougar Mellencamp feel. Travis Bickle is Murder City Devils style murderpunk which is a welcome step forward as it is different to the usual Clash and ska influences. The terrific Ghost Band is a Pogues style thrashabout while the uptempo punk rock of Ivory Coast also has a slight celtic influence.
It isn't all good however. David Courtney is a straight forward, aggressive punk rocker while Django is a spaghetti western informed aggressive punk rock song but both are rather tiresome.
There is some filler but overall this is a good but not great album. There are a number of great songs but Out Come The Wolves this ain't.
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