Customer Reviews

Indestructible

5 star:		(121)
4 star:		(49)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(26)
1 star:		(28)

 

 

well, i am a bit older, so i may have a different take. i consider rancid to be a natural progression of operation ivy. saying that i consider this album to be almost perfect. the boys mix it up from the start. i won't bother going into the different genres this album encompasses, but i will say this: tim has become a songwriter. a real musician. there is a definate application of craft and melody that most newskool "punks" (and i use the term loosely 'cause if you purchase your attitude at a store, your not punk) react to as betrayal. honestly rancid 2000's the sellout album. rancid NEVER made music like that before, and only did so as a knee jerk reaction to garner cred with the "hardcore" fans. even their first album in '92 was more melodic. anyway, this is a truly excellent album. melodic hardcore, raggea, and just plain damn good songwiting are "indestructable".

This is the greatest Rancid CD! its like a mix of Let's Go/Rancid(2000)/Life Wont Wait, and pleanty of new style songs. It tops And Out Come The Wolves because of it diversity and songs that really stand out. If you like any Rancid CD or just like good music buy this CD!! It's my favorite out of a huge collection of punk-rock CDs! 19 songs and almost an hour of awesome music!!! a must buy!

1. Indestructible (9/10): Awesome punk title track!

2. Fall Back Down (9/10): Poppy? yes. but it grows on you fast! and its a very personal song for Tim.

3. Red Hot Moon (9/10): Ska-ish song, reminds me of Time Bomb,
yes the rapper form the tranplants is in it but he doesnt really rap.

4. David Courtney (10/10): Maybe my favorite Rancid song ever, a great punk song!

5. Start Now (10/10): Kind of poppy chorus like Fall Back Down, but i think its even better I really like it.

6. Out Of Control (9/10): Sounds like its straight off Rancid 2000, probably the most hardcore track on this CD, still very catchy and awesome!

7. Django (10/10): Another one that could be on Rancid 2000, but even better! this is an awesome hard punk song with a very original sounds to it.

8. Arrested In Shanghai (10/10): A slow song, maybe its not for everyone, but I absolutely love this song!

9. Travis Bickle (10/10): Also could be off of Rancid 2000, just as good as Django, very fast hard catchy and awesome!

10. Memphis (7/10): While it has it's moments (Matt actually has clear backround vocals here) it just doesnt measure up to the other songs.

11. Spirit of '87 (8/10): Alot of people love this song and say its the best from this CD, its punk and original, had to grow on me tho.

12. Ghost Band (9/10): If you like "Indestructible" you will like this one, it had to grow on me but did-so very fast, its a great punk song!

13. Tropical London (9/10): Sounds like something off "Life Wont Wait" probably, but not Reggea, very personal song to Tim about Brody. Catchy and awesome.

14. Roadblock (10/10): Sounds like something straight off of "Let's Go!", very awesome punk song.

15. Born Frustrated: (10/10): Also sounds straight off of "Let's Go", one of the best on the CD! very catchy and awesome punk!

16. Back Up Against the Wall (8/10): This almost deserves a 9, its poppy but its good just not great

17. Ivory Coast (9/10): cool punk once again :)!

18. Stand Your Ground (10/10): Bascilly a Transplants song w/o the rapper, but its totally awesome, I love it!

19. Otherside (10/10): Yes an emotional punk song! very very very awesome and sad, about Lar's late older brother. best "na na na na"'s ive ever heard! The only thing wrong with it is that its too short :'(!

19 songs and almost an hour of awesome music!!! a must buy!

and Rancid is still Rancid no they have not sold out.

Okay, let's see where we start...
First, i'd like to address the reviewer that says (s)he purchased then quickly discarded the band's first self-titled album: What the hell were you thinking??? The first album was a great album (as all of their work tends to be), furthermore you went on to mention that the second self-titled album was one of their best, again, what were you thinking??? That was without a shadow-of-a-doubt their worst, most thrown-together c.d. of the entire lot!!!
That said- "Indestructible" is a strong effort by punk's most influential and flexible band. They once again switch back and forth from their raggae roots to fast-paced "head-splitters" more quickly then you can say "The Clash". This album is just further proof that Rancid is punk's most versatile asset, and can appeal to anyone looking to delve into the depths of true punk rock. One of the best features of this disc is that the book not only has lyrics included, but also gives a brief synopsis of what each song is about- a feature that i absolutely love, and would encourage all bands to include, as it gives the listener a bit of a window into the lyricists mindset. If you are interested in Rancid I would suggest that your buy their albums in the following order (keep in mind to listen to each album several times so that you can truly appreciate what each work brings to the table):

1) ...And Out Come the Wolves
2) Let's Go
3) Indestructible (it's listener friendly, but not necessarily the third best album)
4) Life Won't Wait
5) Self-titled (1993 *the gun cover*)
6) Self-titled (2000 *the skull cover*)

no matter what albums you buy or in what order just make sure to appreciate all that Rancid stands for and take it all at face value!!

P.S. Listen to the bass line in just about every Rancid song and try arguing against the fact that Matt Freeman is the best bass player on the planet. Period!

This is probably Rancid's best record since And Out Come The Wolves and is well worth your hard earned cash, but the only difference between this edition for almost thirty bucks and the regular one for less than fifteen is that this one comes with a shirt that doesn't fit and a patch. It's sad that for regular price lame ass Metallica gave their fans their new cd with a feature length dvd and access to download an additional ten hours of music for free, while a great band like Rancid charges double price for a tiny t-shirt and a patch you probably could buy for a buck in the village. What can you do...they probably have no control over these things, it's not like the lead singer owns the label they're on or something like that....

Well, at least the album cover is punk.....

Actually, I shouldn't be too hard on the album, it does have its charms. Just not enough drunken charm.

Like everyone else I was waiting so hard for this album that I crapped my pants about ten times. Then I heard the first single 'Fall Back Down' and wanted to hurl my feaces at the TV. Good Charlotte on the film clip? That stupid Ozbourne girl? Playing pop punk songs? I was deflated. I almost wished that they would break up before they could release the album.

But they didn't, and I am glad of it in hindsight. They have besmirched their good names with songs like 'Fall Back Down', 'Arrested in Shanghai' and 'Start Now'. (Don't get me started on how poppy Start Now is.)
After a cursory listening I was ready to give up on Rancid and the album and was getting ready to start pretending that I never liked them so that I could laugh at kids who liked songs like 'Fall Back Down'.

But after a couple of weeks I came back to the album and listened to it with fresh ears. I lstened to it without the burden of expectation and as a standalone album, and, when you take it like that, it's really not so awful.

Tracks like 'David Courtney' and 'Out Of Control' see Lars at his agressive and intense best. While tracks like 'Travis Bickle' and 'Django' do the same for Tim. 'Spirit of '87' is possibly one of the best punk songs ever written in my opinion; it's catchy and sing-along-ish but still with good pace and with a raw edge. 'Roadblock', 'Born Frustrated', 'Ivory Coast' and 'Otherside' are all good songs too. The rest (apart from the utterly horrible 'Fall Back Down, 'Start Now' and 'Arrested in Shanghai') are decent songs but far from exceptional.

As a standalone album this is still far better than most of the 'punk' floating around in the music sucCESS pool, but as a Rancid album this is easily the worst. if I were to give this a score as a standalone album I might edge up towards three and a half stars....but seeing as it does come after some great albums and dissapoint quite a bit I can only squeeze out 3, and only now after the bitterness has subsided.

Personally I would like to see them heading back in the direction of their latest Self Titled which is a masterpiece.
If you love Rancid, there is still alot to like here, but my prediction is, if you're anything like me, that you will spend all your time listening to their older and better albums and only fish this one out to listen to some select songs, with your finger always twitching over the 'NEXT TRACK' button.

Incidentally, pick up the single for 'Fall Back Down' (Yes I know the song itself is awful). The two tracks that come with are great. Stranded is an awesome song by Tim that is better than half of the album and Killing Zone is an awesome song by Lars that is also better than half the album. Perhaps Good Charlotte made the final selection of which tracks would make the album...who knows.

First, I love it when all the old punk fans rail at a group for selling out when they steer the least bit from abject screaming and shattering of their guitars. As if a punker can keep playing Anarchy in the UK every day, every year of their life until they drop. Clearly, if you name your group Rancid you have a certain ethic to live up to. Owing to that though, Rancid is without question one of Rock and Roll's most vital groups, regardless of whether they assist Pink, or slow the tempo down a bit and weave reggae and bluesy and even POP sensibilities into a brilliant song.
Indestructible has the band at its finest. Whether people think its a return to the radical mix of influences from their early work, or whether you think its a radical departure from the punk trueness of the 2000 album. What you can't fault Rancid is the body of work it consistently delivers.
Indestructible would be on anyone's top ten list if they would just listen to it. It's filled with unbridled energy, brilliant well-crafted songs, and the unabashed love these guys have for music in all its manifestations has never been more evident.

This is very solid Rancid album, despite people wanting to say it's garbage, or they soldout or whatever.

What bothers me about "punk" fans is when a band gains popularity and gets played on the radio, they want to discredit their integrity. Maybe that means they are making GOOD music that a bigger audience likes?

There are a handful of superior reggae/ska/rock tunes with excellent grooves. Red Hot Moon, Tropical London, and Stand Your Ground are exceptional. Born Frustrated, Back Up, and Fall Back Down are also excellent punk rock fare.

Some of the harder stuff doesn't work as well.

No this isn't a huge leap from their other work, but it holds up and gets me going.

All & all this band's musical/songwriting ability is light years beyond 99% of the other punk bands out there.

New comers Get:
1)Out Come The Wolves
2)Life Won't Wait
3)Let's Go
4)Indestructible

"I've had a rough year, a lot to go through" sings Tim Armstrong in "Fall Back Down", the upbeat single that combined with a label switch from Epitaph to Warner Bros. (but with their own Hellcat logo as well?) has a lot of people screaming that they've sold out. I'm not one to obsess to much about labels or label changes, so lets just listen to the music.

Now in 2003, not only did Tim lose close friend longtime idol Joe Strummer, but also had a highly publicized breakup with his wife (Brody Dalle) after some mainstream publication caught her cheating on him. Apparently, at this point in the year, Tim was aboult halfway through writing to songs on Indestructible, so we're left with an album that feels a little schizophrenic. On one end we have a kind of return to And Out Come The Wolves territory, and then on the other end we have a few ubeat songs featuring Tim trying to cheer himself up after all this, and pretty much assuring fans that he's going to be fine. That's really the take home message Tim's trying to make you take from Indestructible. He's saying that no matter what happens to him, just by writing music he's still gonna come out on top.

So while this album appears a little upbeat at times, I would not call it a sellout attempt, and I'd actually recommend to everyone to buy this rancid album. Buy ..."And Out Come The Wolves" first, but pick this up before "Let's Go!" or "Life Won't Wait"

This is a definite must get album for Rancid fans. If you loved "...and out come the wolves" you would definitley find this record amusing. After hearing their first single "Fall Back Down" I knew I had to get this record. As hearing through the 19 songs, there are a lot of curse words but that's music. I still love it. Actual punkers would say Rancid are sell-outs and the probably are, but I would still love them. Not if they completly sell themselves out to Nickelodeon and stuff, because most people still don't know about Rancid. And I think Rancid is great in the level they are.

Rancid is a new generation of the punk scene. There the Clash and the Ramones of the new minelium. The pistols too. Rancid certinley didn't forget how punk music is, they are just at a new level in music. They are still the same band they were ten years ago, they are just getting older like any other human being. This is a definite must get record for Rancid fans. You love punk, you will love this.

As I only own 'Rancid (2000)' and 'Indestructible' I can't really say much. But I can say it is definitely less hardcore than their previous album in 2000. Where as that was jammed pack with aggressive punk songs lasting only about a minute and a half, with Indestructible, they have released more pop-punk kind of songs lasting the average 3 minutes long. Apart from the downhill side of the album, it also consists of a few hardcore punk songs but this time it is with Tim more than Lars (I would say). Maybe they decided to go more softer because of Brody leaving Tim (which was a shame). Anyway, if you're into punk or just starting to get into punk (or Rancid) then this will be a great album to own. If you're like me and you prefer Rancid's older stuff then still get this album, but consider well before hand.

BOOKLET: 7/10... Its got the lyrics and a short description of each song. Quite hard to read the writing - especially when it sometimes crawls off the page. Note- Tim's name is accidentally spelt Tim Armstong!
LYRICS: 8/10... A lot of the lyrics is about sticking together as a band or about Brody leaving Tim. Not bad.
MUSIC: 9/10... A bit of ska, pop and punk all mixed together. Bass is amazing... as usual.
STANDOUT TRACKS: Indestructible, David Courtney, Out Of Control, Django, Travis Bickle, Spirit Of '87, Otherside.
OVERALL TOTAL: 8/10.

P.S: If you like NOFX, The Exploited or The Distillers then you should enjoy this album.
P.P.S: Rancid are not sell outs!