Rancid - "Trouble Maker"

Rancid to many, including myself, are one of the most important Punk Bands of all time.  Hell, seeing Tim Armstrong with his Mohawk in the 90's was one of my first real "Punk"memories.  After the breakup of legendary Punk act Operation Ivy, Tim Armstrong and company formed Rancid, and would quickly become one of the most successful Punk acts of the 90's.  Their 1993 self titled debut was urgent, quick, and most of all catchy.  While the hooks weren't as explosive as they would grow to be on later Rancid albums, the band quickly mastered the art of remaining heavy enough to be a legit Punk act, but catchy enough to receive radio airplay.  On 1994's "Let's Go!", Rancid jumped on some cleaner production and began tightening up their sound.  The result was some of the catchiest punk anthems of this time period, tracks like "St. Mary" and the legendary "Salvation" stand out.   Then, Rancid just so happened to come out with one of the most iconic and loved punk album's of the 90's, as well as one of my favorite Punk albums even, "...And Out Came The Wolves".  This album featured gigantic, sing along choruses as well as plenty of punk grit.  There were radio singles like "Time Bomb" and "Ruby Soho", as well as tracks like "Old Friend", Journey To The End of East Bay", and "Maxwell Murder" which became fan favorites. Then, Rancid in 1998 released the massive "Life Won't Wait".  I Don't think this is necessarily a bad album, but this album is over an hour, and not even half of it is seriously memorable.  Rancid however got back in my good graces with 2000's "Rancid".  This album was noticeably heavier with a whole lot more influence leaning towards a more Hardcore sound.  Tracks like "Let Me Go" and "Radio Havana" were near perfect, and Rancid once again seemed on top of their game.  Oh boy, then Rancid came out with "Indestructible".  Now, I'm not going to lie, I still love "Fall Back Down" and "Red Hot Moon", they're catchy at least.  But oh boy, the rest of this album is seriously rough to listen to.  There is absolutely not edge to this album, hell this is is barely even a punk album.  There are Reggae jams and Ska-Punk tunes as well, but most of it really doesn't come off well.  It'd be 6 years until we heard from Rancid again, with their "Let The Dominoes Fall".  Now in all respect, this album was far from bad.   I wouldn't say this was the classic sound we all wanted to hear from Rancid.  But there was at least some energy to tracks like "Last One To Die" and "Disconnected".  But there were also really awkward ska tracks like "Up To No Good", and "Civilian Ways" just proved that Tim Armstrong should never be left alone with an acoustic guitar.  Rancid's 2014 album "...Honor Is All We Know" was even more of a mixed bag.  This album overall was all over the place.  Sure, the big hooks and catchy riffs were present, but almost nothing else about this album was Punk even in the slightest sense.  Now, these new singles have been a serious mixed bag, with some coming off pretty decent and others coming off pretty darn bad.  Let's chat about this album.

This album starts off with “Track Fast”, and it’s certainly a louder and heavier intro than I was expecting.  While it’s only about 50 seconds long, and the vocals are maybe a little one dimensional, this certainly isn’t a horrible intro.  “Track Fast” is also a whole lot more aggressive of a track than I thought we’d hear altogether.  The very aggressive nature of this album continues with “Ghost Of A Chance”.  To be honest, this track has all the makings of a real old school Rancid track.  Not only is it balls to the wall and seriously upbeat, but it’s also seriously catchy.  Tim Armstrong’s voice has actually aged really nicely to be honest, it even has a new found grit to it.  Outside of that, “Ghost Of A Chance” is pretty much a “By the books” Rancid track.  And I really don’t mean that in a bad way at all, at this point in their career, this is probably the best thing we could have heard from them.  “Telegraph Avenue” continues with a lot of the same sounds, especially those very melodic guitars and the very upbeat attitude of this one.  But the acoustic verses on “Telegraph Avenue” do nothing for me, and the lyrics are just so damn cheesy for punk icons like Rancid.  Not to mention, quite frankly I feel like I’ve heard this way too many times from Rancid.  The hook on “Telegraph Avenue” also is seriously lazy.  And to top it all off, this is by far the longest track on the album, and I almost took nothing from it.  On the other hand, “An Intimate Close Up of a Street Punk Trouble Make” is exactly what I wanted to hear from Rancid, and may actually be my favorite track here.  The much more aggressive and rapid paced verses are back, and Tim Armstrong sounds so much more comfortable here.  “An Intimate Close Up of a Street Punk Trouble Make” is seriously catchy as well, so don’t sit here and tell me that Rancid can’t give me something just as memorable as they once did.  It’s explosive, it’s upbeat, it’s fun, and I wouldn’t mind coming back to this plenty of times.  Then we ave what should have been my worst nightmare, “Where I’m Going”.  I first heard about this track, and all I could think was “Oh God, a ska punk track sung by Lars Frederickson in the year 2017, Lord give me strength”.  But to be perfectly honest, this is easily one of the catchiest Rancid tracks I’ve heard in years.  Those keyboards are to die for, and the verses by both Lars and Tim both come off fantastic in their own way.  Not to mention, Ironically I can take lyrics about Tim Armstrong meeting the Devil more seriously than most of the other lyrics here.  “Where I’m Going” is one hell of a track boys.

“Buddy” continues on with the same very upbeat and melodic sound the album has been going with.  However, this one brings in Tim’s more laid back and spacey sounding vocals.  However, Tim’s always had a way of making those come off nicely, and here is no different.  “Buddy” isn’t nearly as infectious as some of the earlier tracks here, but it’s still catchy to an extent and shows that Rancid are clearly more focused than they have been in years.  “Farewell Lola Blue” is up next, and it’s one of the most aggressive tracks we’ve heard here so far.  To be honest though, that isn’t a bad thing at all, it comes off wonderfully.  There’s so much raw emotion in the vocals here, like the boys have lost someone seriously close to them.  Now, let’s pause for a second.   I just realized writing this that everything I’ve mentioned about these tracks so far, I haven’t been able to honestly say about Rancid in YEARS.  So far, I’ve been happy with this album.  Rancid may not be reinventing anything, but they’re doing what they do best.  However, sadly at this point Rancid start making some serious hiccups.  “All American Neighborhood” shows Rancid going hard once again, but this one is a little too heavy to the point where it’s sort of depressing.  Don’t get me wrong, so far there have been plenty of decent aggressive tunes on here.  But on “All American Neighborhood”, Rancid seem like they’re trying desperately to be as aggressive and as heavy as they once were.  And quite frankly, it doesn’t come off nicely at all.  This track is an absolute mess, between the very sloppy vocals and the very poorly thought out instrumentals.  “All American Neighborhood” is more agitating than anything.  Up next is “"Bovver Rock and Roll”, and all I have to say is : What the hell even is this?  Seriously!  Is this even a Rancid album still?  I feel like "Bovver Rock and Roll” is practically Tim Armstrong singing over some generic Dad rock, between the slow paced bluesy guitar and the laughably bad chorus.  I have no clue who signed off on this, but there isn’t a single thing about this track that isn’t cringe worthy.  Quite frankly, this is what I was expecting to hear for most of this album, so thankfully Rancid get this out of their system early.  Rancid rebound wonderfully though and get right back into the formula they’re so wonderful at with “Make It Out Alive”.   All I can say about this track is, thank freakin God that Rancid can still pen a damn fine punk anthem.  There’s almost a touch of old school Dropkick Murphys to this, especially in those gang like vocals.  Everything about “Make It Out Alive” works real nicely, and ends up being one of the catchiest tracks on here by far.  Hell, I’d even say tracks like this make me excited to hear more Rancid albums in the future.  

At this point, where like 2/3 into the album, and “Molly Make Up Your Mind” continues on with the sheer aggressiveness of this album.  It’s commendable really, and this album as a whole is easily one of the most consistent I’ve heard from Rancid in years.  Lyrically, some of these tracks, like “Molly Make Up Your Mind” do get a little repetitive, but I wouldn’t say to a fault.  Then we have tracks like “I Got Them Blues Again”, which is good enough to be a track from one of Rancid’s true classic albums.  It’s rough, it’s tough, and it’s packed with a gigantic sing a long chorus and a melodic instrumental.  As far as a decent Rancid track goes, you’re probably not going to get much better than this.  But sadly, Rancid chuck it all away with “Beauty of the Pool Hall”, one of this album’s weakest moments by far.  Once again, we see Rancid trying ridiculously hard to be as aggressive as their contemporaries.  But do you know what ends up happening?  Things get seriously sloppy.  Like, sure, the chorus on “Beauty of the Pool Hall” is catchy.  But everything else about this one blows right by me.  No thank you Rancid, I’m sorry.  “Say Goodbye to Our Heroes” however get’s this album back on track.  This one comes off catchy as hell, and once again I’m getting sort of an old school Dropkick Murphys feel from this.  It’s catchy, it’s to the point, it’s a really decent Rancid tune.  This sound here remains after all of these years, exactly where Rancid needs to stay.  The guitar solo on this one comes off great, and “Say Goodbye to Our Heroes” at the end of the day is just a gigantic, feel good Punk anthem.  But sadly, these later tracks keep getting more and more hit and miss. “I Kept a Promise” is way too cheesy for my liking, especially with these horrible lyrics.  Even the riff on this one just seems way too much “by the books” for Rancid.  Everything about “I Kept A Promise” is just so wishy washy, from Tim’s sort of goofy verses to these incredibly lazy hooks.  Once again, this is the kind of track I was worried I would hear.

“Cold Cold Blood” starts to wind us down, and for a more upbeat and hectic song, this actually one of the better ones here, especially on that hook.  This track might be short, but it’s to the point, and it really shows Rancid at their best with everything they do.  They don’t sound nearly as desperate or as out of date here.  Hell, just the opposite.  On “Cold Cold Blood”, Rancid actually sound full of attitude, and like they’re having a blast as well, and that’s really all we can ask for.  But then we have the finale, “This Is Not The End”.  And sadly, this misses the target by so much.  For the most part, this track is nothing more than some incoherent garbage.  The riff is nice and all, but there’s little to no hook or any sort of substance.  What the hell kind of an ending is this?  Listening to this track actually makes me glad this IS the end.  

Give A Listen To: “Ghost of a Chance”, "An Intimate Close Up of a Street Punk Trouble Maker”, “Where I’m Going”, “Make It Out Alive”

Rating: 7.6/10

Overall Thoughts:  Going into this, I really wasn't that excited or sure that I was going to like anything.  But I have to say, this is by far the most consistent project Rancid have done in years.  There aren't nearly as cringe worthy tracks as there have been on the last few Rancid albums, and the majority of this album is just Rancid doing what they do best.  They just need to stick to that and only that in the future, and I wouldn't mind listening to even more Rancid.