The likelihood of a band being hit by the law of diminishing returns naturally increases the longer they’ve been going at it. Rancid are 20 years removed from ‘Let’s Go!’, 19 from the seminal ‘...And Out Come The Wolves’ and 14 from their last career high, their often feral second self-titled album, and it’s begun to show.
‘Indestructible’ was a bloated collection that found the band investing in their pop side, but its scattered delights still made it a far more palatable offering than its successor, the phoned-in ‘Let The Dominoes Fall’. Album eight, ‘...Honor Is All We Know’, is, from the ellipsis at the start of its title on, an attempt to reclaim some of the piss and vinegar of old.
Broadly, it’s successful in that goal. Tim Armstrong won’t win any awards for subtlety with Back Where I Belong, but the message is as clear as a bell: “I’ve been gone way too long and I’m back where I belong.”
It’s a sentiment that carries over into the record’s best moments, from the giddy Collision Course to the infectious In The Streets and Already Dead, which, as Lars Frederiksen shifts from ferocious to mournful, is perhaps the finest couple of minutes the band have put their name to in almost 15 years.
The rejuvenation doesn’t completely take root, though, and there are many street punk clichés packed together here. The lyrics are heavy with go-to talk of brotherhood, bar fights, raised fists and standing tall, with the seemingly obligatory Oi! chants also getting an airing.
That prevents ‘...Honor Is All We Know’ from being a complete success, but it doesn’t detract from the fact that this is the best Rancid have sounded in a long, long time. There’ll never be another ‘...Wolves’, but there’s plenty here to suggest cause for renewed optimism.
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