Album Review: OFF! - 'Wasted Years' | theMusic.com.au | Australian music news, gig guide, music reviews

Punk rock supergroup OFF!, who are most well known for being on the Chilli Peppers' hats, are back with their second full-length, 'Wasted Years', another collection of short punk rock blasts with a touch of surf rock flair about them.

This is more so the case in the op'ening numbers like 'Void You Out' and 'Legion Of Evil'. As the record takes a darker turn around 'Hypnotized, the riffs get a little darker and heavier and the subject matter a little angrier.

As the full-length rolls on however the variances are slight and you begin to wonder how hard it is to write and record songs that go for one minute and refuse to change their tones at all? Surely recording this album took slightly longer than its twenty-three minute run time. Paying respect where it's due, this is classic punk rock, and every now and then some riffs stand out as quite wicked. 'Times Not On Your Side' for example, makes this a cool little rev up record if that is what you need but we challenge you to tell the difference between any of these tracks.

At the end of the day though, OFF! aren't the kind of band who are here to innovate or change anyone's perception of punk rock, they are just here to uphold the world from which they came, and on that front they are successful.

'Wasted Years' has an infectious energy about it and would clearly be some fun in a dingy, sweaty club, stomping around to the unrelenting chuggs of 'Red White And Black'.

On the whole, the sound is pretty much what you would come to expect when you take members of Circle Jerks, Blag Flag and Rocket from The Crypt and put them together. It's pretty simple gutter punk with plenty of attitude that never really deviates that far from itself, which is great for the people who really want that stuff, but kind of boring for everyone else.

1. Void You Out

2. Red White and Black