Album Review: The Offspring – Supercharged

The Offspring’s last album, Let The Bad Times Roll, came out in 2021 and I was pleasantly surprised by it. After some years away from the band, I thought it was more than just a return to form, more a maturing and where the band should be at their (and my) ages. While still being very much The Offspring, naturally.

Throughout the album, the one word that comes back time and again is “catchy”. While the variety in the songs is doubtless, each one is an earworm and an instant hook. Some are just 100% fast-paced punk-rock fun of the type that’s synonymous with the band, others have a bit more too them. As with Bad Times, it’s the extension into other musical territories that keeps Supercharged fresh.

“Looking Out For Number 1” has a couple of tiny vox samples in there while otherwise being standard Offspring fare, and giving you an idea of the fast-paced stuff. Only it doesn’t because “Light It Up” with it’s appropriate “with a rocket on my back” lyrics turns the tempo up. This rapid chugger guarantees at the very least an involuntary toe-tap. Lyrically it revisits classics like “Bad Habit” (ie don’t piss me off), which is a sentiment that doesn’t seem to go away with age.

Another 2 1/2 minute blast is “The Fall Guy”, before we’re hit with the far bouncier and – dare I risk saying it? – poppier “Make It All Right”. The “bada-ba-badah” backing vocals give a 60’s pop feel, and it’s the kind of song that Bowling For Soup could really making something of. Jaret, did you have a hand in this? Honestly, I love this song. It’s followed by another singalong belter, “OK, But This Is The Last Time”. Every been taken advantage of in a relationship? This song is very much for you.

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Get back on your skateboards and be prepared to thrash for “Truth in Fiction”, before the recent single “Come To Brazil” comes out of the speakers. I love that this is a response to the social media requests the band have had whenever they post up tour dates and miss out the home of Sepultura (full story). I like even more that they have recorded a version in Portuguese!

It’s interesting to hear “Get Some” begin with a very obvious reference to Queen’s “Stone Cold Crazy” given that the band welcomes Brian May on stage recently at Starmus Festival to play that very song (and a wonderful version of their own “Gone Away“).

“Hanging By A Thread” is another song with lyrics which may be relatable to many of us. As Dexter says about the album as a whole:

From the height of our aspirations to the depths of our struggles, we talk about it all on this record…in a way that celebrates the life that we share and where we are now.

I like to think that “Hanging By A Thread” is written about a point in time that Dexter felt he was “hanging”, one of those depths… but obviously managed to get through it. As I said – relatable.

The biggest and brashest sounding number is saved for the end. There’s something about “You Can’t Get There From Here” which makes is sound “bigger” than anything that precedes it. It could well be new boy Brandon Pertzborn on drums (this is one of the four tracks he did, the others covered by long-standing session member Josh Freese). They really are front and centre in this particular song and go beyond being used just as a timekeeper. There are some quality fills in here that “pop” right into the front of the mix. Way to make your mark.

So, a bit less of a gap between albums compared to the last time but no drop in quality. It’s an odd thing to say about a band this long standing, but Let The Bad Times Roll and now Supercharged show real maturity and growth. Long may it continue!

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Supercharged is out on October 11th

Header image by Daveed Benito

Pre-order Supercharged now!

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