by Richard Leigh

Created on: February 29, 2008   Last Updated: March 01, 2008

'Indestructible' is the 2003 release from the Californian Punk band Rancid. The band formed in 1991 and have since then released a grand total of six studio albums. They have another in the pipeline planned for release in 2008, however it is as yet untitled. The first thing that struck me when I first bought this album is that the bands singer Tim Armstrong is credited as 'Tim Armstong' in the booklet that accompanies the release, quite a glaring error to overlook really. I have never been much of a fan of this album, and right from the offset the album shows strong signs of being a great disappointment.

Beginning with title track 'Indestructible', it is instantly apparent that this album is a lot more destructible than the title would lead you to believe. 2003 was not only the year that Rancid released this album, but also the year that Tim Armstrong split up with his wife of six years Brody Dalle. Much of the lyrical content of this release is therefore greatly focused on their split and this does not make for particularly enthralling listening. It is their poppiest release to date and subsequently their most commercially successful album, however I do not hold the album at all in high regard.

'Fall Back Down' was released as a single from this album, a track written after Tim Armstrong's divorce with Brody Dalle. The lyrics focus on friendship, particularly that of Tim Armstrong and Rancid guitarist come vocalist and long time friend Lars Frederikson. The pair wrote the track together and their bond is extremely strong here, Frederikson's wife left him in 2001 and this could be a key element of their bond in this track; understanding. Whilst it's great that Tim Armstrong had good friends around him to help him through his tough divorce, I can't help but hate the track 'Fall Back Down'. The sound produced here is just so weak, something that is true of the majority of the tracks on this album in fact. There is no strength or power to the track whatsoever, the hard hitting Punk sound that the band had in the past is all but gone here and has been replaced with watered down music that does not fit the band in the slightest. 'Red Hot Moon' was also released as a single from this album and is similarly strengthless in sound. It has a chorus that wouldn't sound too out of place on the bands great 1995 album 'And Out Come The Wolves', and yet somehow the track just seems to fail to impress due to a poorly constructed verse and irritating guitar riff that lacks

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