Rancid - Tomorrow Never Comes - The Singles, Reviewed

Rancid - Tomorrow Never Comes - The Singles, Reviewed 

Rancid are one of the biggest names in the skate-punk genre. Led by frontman Tim Armstrong, their mix of punk, pop and ska has given them a very loyal fanbase, as well as a few genre highlight records with albums like ‘...And Out Come The Wolves’ and ‘Let’s Go.’ Now, 6 years after their ninth, the band are back with their tenth album ‘Tomorrow Never Comes’, set for release on June 2nd. So let’s take a look at the singles.

Tomorrow Never Comes

For all intents and purposes this does a pretty good job as an opening track. The fiery guitar riffs, punchy d-beat drums, grinding, wiry bass, all tricks straight out of the classic hardcore punk playbook, and so obviously they all work very well. The guitar solo is pretty run-of-the-mill but to be honest at the same time I’m not sure what I was expecting. Vocally and lyrically, it basically follows in the instrumentals footsteps. Tim’s rapid fire, angry delivery on the verses works well to convey the track’s central ideas of rebellion and protest, while Lars Frederiksen’s more gravelly delivery on the pre-chorus works as a pretty good counterpoint, and of course the shouted gang vocals on the chorus are a cool addition too. While this track does just pretty much reinstate Rancid’s M.O., it does so quite well, so it’s pretty effective honestly.

Devil In Disguise

This was a bit disappointing honestly, because it feels like it goes for sort of the same approach as the first single, but just a bit brighter and cheesier, and so obviously doesn’t go down as well. The more audible bass playing is certainly nice, that’s a positive, but the guitars and drums, while going for around the same feel, again they just feel a bit cheesy, and resultantly a lot less punchy. Not to mention the guitar solo is pretty boring too. This almost entirely rests on the vocals, whose insipid singalong melodies ring of something out of a children’s nursery rhyme, and when you think of it in those terms, the lyrical sentiment of “be careful, there’s evil everywhere”, doesn't exactly help. This was a serious step down on basically every level, I’m sad to say.

Don’t Make Me Do It

Starting out with two dramatic bursts of instrumentation, this track is about as stereotypically thrash and bash as you can get, but that’s not necessarily a negative. It’s a short, fiery burst of punk and I’m here for it. The really gnarly, dark riffs, clunking bass, real galloping drums, all ticks in the pro column as far as I’m concerned. Admittedly though, the vocals could be a little more unhinged in my opinion, because relatively speaking they seem fairly measured, decent but still. Add to this the pretty generic tough guy “I’ll beat you up” lyrics, and this is a case of a song where the instrumental carries a fair bit.

So, while you might not think my album expectations are super optimistic, on balance I would say the three singles we do have indicate a pretty decent punk album on the horizon. Although given the sixteen song long tracklist, it’s possible that this already tentative sense of optimism may wane come release day.