The Offspring "Days Go By"

      If you looked at the cover of this band’s new album, without knowing anything of their sound, you might expect something more serious and mature. The cover art is great, but can be misleading to the sound; especially those who use labels and covers to determine someone or something worthy of time. Days Go By, and people get older, but that doesn’t mean they always mature. Some may embrace their inner child and still manage the responsibilities required in this day and age. It almost sounds as if they needed a savior to help rise against the urge to call in an insipid initiation. “Secrets from the Underground” may borrow from themselves, but tries to simultaneously confuse the listener by saying “This is not an anthem/Or a threat in someone's name/But a promise that tomorrow/Will rock and burn, if things don't change.” When it clearly sounds like it! We’ll say more of a general warning; which reminds me of another song by Rise Against.              What else can be said except that this is a tamer realization that “Days Go By.” While “Turning into You” is a document of a toxic and contradiction relationship: trying to gain a family member’s acceptance without becoming like them; in a sound that recalls the desperation and confusion of animal I have become from another band entirely.  “Cruising California (Bumpin’ in my Trunk)” not only recalls their Americana spunk found on their 1998 hit, but could also be a retort to artists like 30H3! You may find it difficult to digest that they have grown up on “All I Have Left is You.” A lot can happen in three and a half minutes, but all that bumpin’ must have gotten old fast, and a relationship with two party people often don’t last.                                   These “OC Guns” are dangerous; a mixture of raga-mariachi, rancid rhythm, and gang vocals, and sparse sound effects. “Dirty Magic” sounds like it can be the anthem for the stereotypical emotives, and examines how loving that one person who plays sadistic games can make suicide seem so appealing. “Dividing By Zero” is one of their finest moments, and hits your head with a hammer, or that zeppelin reaching maximum speed, and then some. “Slim Pickens Does The Right Thing and Rides The Bomb To Hell” wins points for its title alone, but its commentary allows it to qualify. If I would choose my least favorites I would say Days Go By and I Want To Make A Secret Family (With You).