DAYS GO BY by The Offspring

‘Days Go By’ is an interesting record in terms of analysing the core of any artiste. Think of The Offspring, and the underlying idea is rebellion, mischief and micro-critiquing societal banalities in a light-hearted vein. ‘Days Go By’ is much more contemplative and mature than their previous offerings, but is it still The Offspring? Opening track, ‘The Future Is Now’ is unmistakably so, but closer in wavelength to The Foo Fighters, while retaining the devil-may-care punk-pop overtones that Dexter Holland, Noodles and the rest usually dish out. ‘The Future Is Now’ is not only the first track on the record, but also the best. There are other songs as passable fare. The incredibly titled ‘Slim Pickens Does The Right Thing And Rides The Bomb To Hell’ is true-blue The Offspring, straight from the 'Americana' era, immensely and equally fun to dance or bang heads to. ‘Secrets From The Underground’ is a self-affirmative power-anthem, with notes identical to the underlying chords passing off as a lead phrase, and Dexter Holland’s charismatic rant hollering overhead. ‘Hurting As One’ is a fast-paced, power-punk call-and-response chant that would work well in an arena. The rest of the album varies from the forgettable title song, ‘Days Go By’ to the disastrous ‘California Cruisin’’, which is a joke of a rock song, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes the next ‘Moves Like Jagger’. The surprise find on the album is ‘Dividing By Zero’, which is practically a thrash song, with plenty of palm-muting and oozing wah-pedals. Think Trivium. The worst song on the album is undoubtedly, ‘All I Have Left Is You’, and that’s where the discussion on the core of The Offspring comes in. It’s a tolerable love song, but it is a drastic, radical step away from The Offspring we know and love, and neither sits well, nor is remarkable enough to forgive and accept. With punk/post-punk artistes, there has always been the route of The Sex Pistols and the route of Greenday. The former, much like The Offspring raised hell, never projected a thinking, feeling side, grew up and called it done. The latter maintained a steady balance between the energy and the emotion from the beginning, making their transition into forty-year olds believable and acceptable. The Offspring are a little too late to be making amends for their youthful antics, and should really reconsider the viability of a change in artistic direction.