OK. I’ve been a big Rancid fan for years. Over these many, many years they’ve changed their sound from album to album and I’ve generally loved the variety but, to be honest, they really have been hit & miss: I love the 2 self titled albums, like Let’s Go, hate Life Won’t Wait, love some of Indestructible and think …And Out Come the Wolves is pure genius.

So, what about the new album, Let The Dominoes Fall? Well, after a single listen, I gotta say I don’t like it at all! At all, at all. None of the songs caught my ear & there were no “oh, shit that part’s amazing. I gotta rewind” moments. It was all just bleh. There’s nothing to pull me back in. Lemme explain:

When I first popped in Indestructible it was hit and miss; there was a ton of stuff I didn’t dig but there were a couple tracks that I had to hear again. Without songs like David Courtney and Red Hoty Moon I would have abandoned the album forever but those songs kept me coming back. Because of that I was re-exposed to the rest of the album eventually started appreciating and/or loving some tracks that I had initially dismissed. I fear that nothing on Let The Dominoes Fall is strong/outstanding enough to pull me back in for more. As it stands I don’t want a second helping. Will I ever get into it? Maybe, I dunno… but, for now, I’m not a fan

For shit’s n giggles I took notes while I listened to the album for the first time. Here’s my initial impressions in all their typo-ridden glory:

East Bay Night

• not bad. kinda sounds like something from and out come the wolves but less poppy

This Place

• short, not-so-sweet and pointless

Up To No Good

• ska thing
• odd backups
• its not “fun” ska.. its just there
• kinda like a song off Life Won’t Wait (my least favorite album)
• organs around 1:10 liven it up. kinda dancey
• gets horrible around 1:40
• totally lame basslines by Matt. I expect more from him
• chorus is just crap

Last One To Die

• jesus. boo. suck
• again with the backup vocals

Disconnected

• initially sounds like a Lars song
• about the USA
• sounds like a Tim solo at 1:50

I Ain’t Worried

• this a song rejected from a Transplants album?
• what the fuck is up with his voice?
• oh look, Lars is rapping
• fuck, is that Matt rapping?
• yikes

Damnation

• not bad. not great yet
• do i hear keys in the pre-chorus? can they do that live?
• “Whole world’s gone to hell” part is fucking, well, rancid. kinda sucks

New Orleans

• ah, lars is singing which is a nice change from the fake raggae voice Tim was putting on for the last 10 minutes
• bass is good but not cutting per usually matt. but, dont get me wrong, its good bass work
• sounds like Lars wrote it based on the guitar doodles
• hmm, a breakdown. Lars has his sensitive voice on. its pretty good
• oh, the chorus is back to fuck up the song

Civilian Ways

• Holy hillbilly shit Batman
• lap steal?
• Tim’s got his drunk voice on
• kinda digging this one
• is that a uke?
• ok im over it. play me something that rocks boys
• i started fast-forwarding parts of this song. the novelty has worn off

The Bravest Kids

• does is this rock? palm muting? kinda fast
• cute drums at 0:20
• another shitty chorus.
• they gotta get over this sing-along + chanting chorus shit. they’re not too good at it.

Skull City

• hmmm. I dunno what I think
• acoustic stuff going on.
• oh, real guitars are back
• this about a stripper? “she danced on my table. she dances on a pole”
• mini noodley – solo thing followed by breakdown around 1:15
• thsi parts aight
• odd, rcok ‘n roll inspired something or another
• “im a wild one” with echo on the vox. um, no thanks
• strange as fuck “thing” around 2:15 followed by a “bend the same note 86 times” solo
• and its over and Tim say “thats it”

L.A. River

• Matt’s singing. This could be good….
• he sounds pissed as always
• and now Tim’s singing the chorus and it sucks
• and matt starts saying random shit like “boom shaka laka laka laka laka boom. shimmy shimmy shake shimmy”
• fuck me. this is horrible
• and the crap chorus again
• fast forwarding again.
• cant stand it. next track

Lulu

• kinda good start
• sounds like a fucked up note at 0:07 but I doubt it is. just sounds “off”
• horrible singing at 0:15
• snare kinda sounds shitty
• there’s something weird with hearing these mohawked, tatooed ghuys scream “Lulu”

Dominoes Fall

• theres some voice saying “oh you ready for me” at the begining. sounds like something i’d hear in a rap album
• 0:43 in and i don’t care about this song at all
• “no, no, no, no, no … na ,na, na ,na I aint got control”. fucking stupid
• fast-forwarding
• cool snare rolls and drum fills near the 1:40+ mark
• lars’ backups around 2:20 sound like a fallsetto

Liberty And Freedom

• Tim’s drunk voice
• And ska
• oh look an echo effect on vox in the chorus
• 1:09 i feel like i’ve heard this same solo in every other song on the album
• somehow i must make it thru another minute of this crap
• choir type backup vocals
• that same solo again

You Want it You Got It

• chill bass intro. Thanks Matt
• this is OK. maybe it’s an average song but a nice change
• “Punk Rock is my religion”
• Matt’s singing again

Locomotive

• sounds lame of tha bat
• and there’s that same solo again but faster @ 0:15
• its not bad but it would be one of the filler songs on Rancid (2000)
• same solo 1:25 oh but it keeps going and does change a bit

That’s Just the Way

• the intro made me think that a Jackon 5 song randomly came on
• oh, that’s Tim singing not Tito
• what the fuck is this disco chorus shit? 0:35 ish
• I can’t sit thru the entirety of this song. Gotta FFWD

The Highway

• i hope this ends on a high note
• Tim and an acoustic so far
• “make some music with my friends”. What you been listening to Willie Nelson?
• I think I hear an acoustic bass (not upright but a Takamine or something)… but it’s subtle
• nope, its definitely there
• “Night clubs and one night stands. play a show and im off again”. Good times
• Honestly the Tim + acoustic parts are good. the background “ah”s ruin it. It would probaly sound better without a 2nd guitar