Rancid – …Honor Is All We Know (ALBUM REVIEW)

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rancidalbumThe 19 tracks come fast and furious (surprisingly ending up the shortest of all their past albums) touching on all of Rancid’s past influences. There is ska, blistering punk, political screeds, roots reggae and festival ready shout-a-longs that long time fans will instantly recognize and young newbies will devotedly latch onto.

After the powerful opening declaration, “Raise Your Fist” starts the solidarity and along with the union tune “A Power Inside” injects Rancid’s politics into things without getting bogged down in particulars. “Collision Course” is a one of the many highpoints as Lars Frederiksen and Tim Armstrong toss riffs and lines about radio, Creedence and Pac-man back and forth before a huge chorus. The killer “Evil’s My Friend” snakes and skas its way along with Vic Ruggiero’s B3 adding another layer of roots reggae to the band, one they are consistently adept at conjuring.

The winning tunes keep coming, whether in the vein of an excellent-poppy love song to a hooker (“In The Streets”) a smashing ode to dealing with being smashed (“Face Up”) or the title track that takes supersonic guitars and adds Matt Freeman’s gruff vocals into things. Freeman deserves extra praise as his bass lines continually make him unique in the punk realm and one of the main reasons why Rancid rise above.

At times Armstrong’s vocals can sound a bit gassed on tracks like on “Now We’re Through”, whether for effect or not it can be a bit distracting, but for a punk band late into their career to create a disk this potent sounding, forgiving a few mis-breaths is easy.

From the gritty raw punk of “Already Dead” to the more rockcentric “Malfunction” the band are comfortably in a groove, writing and recording songs that fit their quality high level. While maybe not to their high-water mark …And Out Come The Wolves you can still safely add …Honor Is All We Know to the groups amazing back catalog as Rancid once again deliver.

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