The Offspring - Days Go By (2012)

After nearly three decades of making sunny California skatepunk, the Offspring get autumnal with their reflective ninth album, Days Go By. Though the band still maintains the same driving, hooky sound that it's always had, the album feels less aggressive and more wistful and yearning. "Days Go By" seems like punk rock tailor-made for fall weather with its meditations on the impermanence of youthful anger, as if the Offspring are offering some sage advice for those coming up after them. A similar vibe courses through "All I Have Left Is You," which switches back and forth between smoothed-out verses and big, guitar-heavy choruses, like a much more adult version of the band than fans might have ever heard previously. While other parts of the album don't quite have the same adult contemporary punk feeling, the songs are generally more melodic and grown-up. While this kind of maturity is not only welcome, but expected, Days Go By also has moments that seem as if the Offspring might be starting to show their age a bit. "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)" was corny back in 1998, making songs like "Cruising California (Bumpin' in My Trunk)" and "OC Guns" even harder to swallow 14 years later. Even though these missteps don't completely ruin the album, they seem over-produced and unnecessary amidst what is an otherwise well-crafted record. All in all, Days Go By is more for fans who have been with the band for a while than those just tuning in, and while die-hard Offspring followers will be able to see the shift in the band's sound as part of a logical progression, new listeners would be better served by checking out some of their earlier, more urgent work.~Days Go By Review by Gregory Heaney