After 30 years together and 20 since their ‘Smash’ breakthrough, The Offspring don’t really need an introduction. In some way or another, their impact on US punk rock has been constant, even during lengthy periods between new material. Their eleventh album, ‘Supercharged’, aims to rejuvenate the SoCal outfit and rectify the mistakes 2021’s ‘Let the Bad Times Roll’ made.
While it doesn’t completely correct the tired clichéd errors, it does see Dexter, Noodles and company thrive in familiar punk rock skin. ‘Light It Up’ gallops away with an abundance of energy before ‘The Fall Guy’s chord progression is rampant with familiarity, sharply executed. Later on, ‘Get Some’ dives into distorted punk territory with some impressive riffing from Noodles, along with a not-so-subtle wink to Queen’s ‘Stone Cold Crazy’. It’s swiftly followed up by the chugging ‘Hanging By A Thread’.
Admittedly these songs arguably aren’t on par with “classic” Offspring, you can’t be helped but be sucked in by how catchy they are. Even when they’re delivering routine melodic punk like ‘Make It Right’, the ’60s doo-wop “bar da da da”s prove to be an earworm. It’s followed by the lyrically jarring ‘OK But This Is The Last Time’ that utilises a playful, driving hook in its chorus. Whereas ‘Come To Brazil’ sees them embrace elements of ’80s stadium metal, while taking a tongue-in-cheek dig at their Brazilian fans. It firmly leans into The Offspring longstanding use of humour and is only expanded by the rampant “olé olé olé” outro.
‘You Can’t Get There From Here’ rounds things out in a relatively straightforward manner. Lyrically it allows Dexter Holland to ruminate on imposter syndrome. It’s paired with a routine melody that you expect from The Offspring, yet like many of the hooks on offer here, it has just about enough to it to make you hit replay.
Coming in at just a hasty 33 minutes, The Offspring provides a cutthroat exploration of reliable tropes with occasional (and subtle) twists. ‘Supercharged’s strength is its melodic execution, proving that Holland and Noodles etc. still know how to deliver catchy hook after catchy hook.
‘Supercharged’ by The Offspring is out now on Concord Records.
