UP AND COMING ALBUMS THAT WILL ‘ROCK’ YOUR SUMMER – DAY TWO

DAY TWO FOR YOUR DIARIES: JUNE 26th

LINKIN PARK – ‘Living Things’

With tracks such as ‘Burn it Down’ on the album, Linkin Park take a definite walk off their original pathway and for many ‘original’ LP fans, they’ll receive a lot of criticism for ‘selling out’ to the commercial masses of the industry. But, in my own opinion, LP have always been masters of ‘hybrid’ music, and it works. It’s not my favourite sound of theirs, too ‘club land’ to really be considered under any ‘rock’ genre at all. But scattered amongst other tracks such as ‘Castle of Glass’, ‘Roads Untravelled’, and ‘Lies Greed & Misery’, the rock lingers on, despite sometimes wheezing for good quality air. ‘Living Things’ is possibly set to be one of their most eclectic sounding albums, but not one of their strongest. LP fans, listen with caution; Linkin Park is still alive, but they’ve changed more times than English weather with global warming.

THE OFFSPRING – ‘Days Go By’

That’s right; it’s a double whammy day.

In their past, I would have said any album by the Offspring was more suited for an angry  ’aw-summer’s-over’ Autumn release, yet, in the present? The up-and-coming album shall be the band’s first full-length since 2008, and it’s looking like clear blue skies all the way. Track ‘Days Go By’, of which the album shall be christened in name, is possibly THE perfect summer song for all the young whippersnappers out there – it’s lyrics express a reminiscent nature of the days that have gone, it’s melody plucky and suiting of a ‘free-teen-anthem’ nature. Sure, it’s a definitive move away from the Offspring’s original hard punk sound. There’s no comical puns or ostentatious drumming to chuckle or head-bang to. But in no means is that to say the rest of the album doesn’t hold some little chestnuts of comedy or heavier tones. Newly released single ‘Cruising California (Bumpin’ in my trunk)’ is a perfect indication that their funny bones are still very much in tact, the track itself, I predict, a song of the summer…well, mine at least. Think…male spoof of Katy Perry ‘California Girls’– you can’t help but smile, can you?

And that’s the great thing about The Offspring; they suit moods, they make you smile, they are a novice escapist’s album. If you’re looking for a more eclectic track list for the summer, about summer, with true yet funny lyrics, and beat and melodies to get you dancing in your car on the way to the beach (even when the car next to you winds up their window cringing), then I dare say ‘Days Go By’ would be a good investment. It may not be original flavoured Offspring; expect a continuation of the sound explored in 2008 ‘Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace’. But I’m hoping it will still taste just as good.