| · The seventh full-length album by major-label so-Cal, so-called punks is produced by master knob twirler Brendan O’Brien and sees the band stripped down to a three piece.
Although I never admitted it at the time, I really liked "Self-Esteem," the almost decade-old breakthrough hit from The Offspring. I didn’t pay much attention to the bulk of their career because, for all of their thick guitars and fast-paced songs, I have a hard time getting over the fact that front man Dexter Holland sounds a lot like "Weird Al" Yankovic.
Without a hooky hit standing out, Splinter drones on quite predictably with amped-up percussion and Holland’s whiny yawp. The band’s trademark sarcastic edge is buried under raging attitude and they only lighten up for the reggae-tinged "The Worst Hangover Ever" and the lightweight, radio-ready "Spare Me The Details." Even producer Brendan O’Brien can’t do anything with the band – his studio tricks come across tired and tame (or outright stupid as in the case of "When You’re in Prison," which sounds like it was recorded in 1924).
The result is a rehashed Offspring effort that sounds like a cleaned-up version of so many other punk records.
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