Rancid – Let The Dominoes Fall

Its’ been six years since Indestructible came out, but in those years, Rancid have not been sitting idly by. On top of releasing solo albums and side projects yearly, the band tour quite frequently, got a new drummer in the form of The Used’s Branden Steineckert and decided to leave the major world and go back to where they were comfortable: Hell-Cat Records. Under the guiding hands of Brett Gurewitz they went back into the studio to record their seventh full length album, Let The Dominoes Fall, and once again proved that they’re here to stay.

Some punk rock purists will quickly point out that Let The Dominoes Fall isn’t nearly as hard hitting as, say, Let’s Go; but the fact of the matter is that Rancid doesn’t need to be filled with balls-to-the-walls fury to write a great song, Let The Dominoes Fall is filled up with perfect examples of that fact.

Instead, Rancid has infused their songs with a sense of melody – the same sense of melody that helped make … And Out Come The Wolves such a legendary album. The record is ripped with vocals that are yearning to be sung by a thousand kids with raised fists. Layered and alternating vocals from the three very different vocalists criss-cross back and forth, creating a sort of call and respond characteristic to the song – something that Rancid have used to their advantage before.

Pulling in from their close to two-decades of experience, Let The Dominoes Fall displays the full scope of Rancid’s style.  There’s the ska and reagge influenced tracks of I Ain’t Worried and Up to No Good, pulsating with an upbeat and danceable tempo. The minute long, balls-to-the-walls, pure punk track of This Place harkens back to the older days, as does Damnation and The Bravest Kids. Tim Armstrong sounds like he’s back on his solo project on the Spanish-guitar led Civilian Ways and acoustic closer The Highway as the band’s pop-punk side comes through on the title track, the lead single Last One to Die and New Orleans, creating songs that will become live favourites right next to Ruby Soho in no time.

All of these changes in styles makes Let The Dominoes harder to classify, but it’s still definitely Rancid with Tim Armstrong and the gang riding out in front of the punk rock wave. It’s a solid album from front to back with only a few songs that fly slightly under the radar while most of the 19 cuts will have you singing along in no time.