Rancid: Indestructible : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Six albums into their career, Rancid are still incurable Clash zealots; it takes them little more than a minute into Indestructible to name-check the late Joe Strummer. These Bay Area punk stalwarts took their snaggle-toothed oi! boogie to the extreme on their last disc, 2000's one-dimensional Rancid. But Indestructible sweetens their spit-and-vinegar cocktails with a spritz of melody: a little bit of soul organ in "Fall Back Down"; blissed-out backing harmonies and bluebeat bounce on "Red Hot Moon"; lounge-y piano and raspy poignancy on "Arrested in Shanghai"; and the shuddering surf-guitar break in "Memphis." Rancid remain beholden to the "Spirit of '87," when founders Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman spearheaded ska-punk terrors Operation Ivy. They're not out to break ground as much as to perfect a sound they consider timeless -- and on portions of Indestructible, they nail it.

GREG KOT
(RS 930, September 4, 2003)