Transplants – Haunted Cities

The announcement of The Transplants two years ago sent waves through the music scene. No one knew what to expect, and what they got, wasn’t even a possibility in most people’s mind. For some, it was a refreshing sound, while others found it just to be a solid disappointment. But now the trio is back with Haunted Cities and they are ready to please all the believers and the disbelievers.

The Transplants are, as almost everyone knows, Rancid‘s Tim Armstrong on guitar, bass and vocals, Blink182‘s Travis Barker on drums and their pal Rob Aston on vocals. And while their self-titled debut two years ago was a little-bit crazy and sporadic, they seem to have brought everything together nicely here. Of course, the album is still full of crazy sounds you would’ve never thought would come from Armstrong or Barker; but it still sounds good. There’s the reggae spiced Killafornia, the vibrant catchy single, Gangsters And Thugs, the slick soul track, What I Can’t Describe – and the much more danceable tracks (which feature that special Transplants touch that made their debut so unique) like American Guns or Not Today and Crash And Burn.

But like I said before, the band seems to have really come together on here – most noticeably in the vocals. While Armstrong still leads a heavy part of the singing, he’s taken a step back for the most part and let Aston run ahead with it. It seems as if they are working together here much better. Its a much smoother sound, still full of hip-hop and rap parts, but not as loud as the debut. Some people will like that, some people will despise it – the truth is that it has its ups and downs. Now on the next album, we just need them to find the perfect medium.

Haunted Cities is a good CD, and the fact that The Transplants were able to release another CD without becoming repetitive or dull means we’ll probably see more then just the one CD from them. Although, make sure to get the album with the “Parental Warning” logo on it because otherwise you’re getting the clean version. That’s the only indication, and trust me, these songs would sound a lot better if they didn’t block out all the swears (not that there’s many, just its really obvious at some points and it would be better with the real version).