Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 12/09/2003
It's more mixing of stylized
punk revival and hybridism with left-field musical experimentation and in-the-now pop culture lyrical references on
Splinter,
the Offspring's seventh full-length.
"Never Gonna Find Me," "Long Way Home," and
"Lightning Rod" each bristle with overdriven guitars and
Dexter Holland's high-pitched bleating; they're somewhat workmanlike, but still roil with that precision fury particular to a veteran band. At the same time,
Holland, guitarist
Noodles, and bassist
Greg Kriesel can't resist returning to the towel-slapping trash humor and mean-spirited loathing that typified past tracks like
"Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)" and
"Self Esteem." Lead single
"Hit That" talks up baby daddies over a bopping bassline and keyboard right out of a
Bloodhound Gang track, while
"Spare Me the Details" subverts its lighthearted acoustic strum with foul-mouthed (on the clean version, anyway) attacks on a philandering girlfriend ("I'm not the one who acted like a ho").
"Da Hui" overdrives
surf rock while paying homage to hardcore Hawaiian board riders, and
"When You're in Prison" ends
Splinter with sage advice about protecting your dignity in the clink. Longtime fans will be more than happy with
Splinter, which crams every last piece of the
Offspring puzzle -- slickly produced
rock racket, hints of anti-establishment rabble-rousing, and reams of relationship and strip mall culture gaggery -- into its brief half-hour run time.
~Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide
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