“The world just kicked our ass again,” Descendents vocalist Milo Aukerman admits on the ultimately defiant ‘We Got Defeat’. Surely an understatement considering the band’s well-documented health battles since the release of 2004’s ‘Cool To Be You’ which have seen drummer Bill Stevenson overcome a brain tumour and bassist Karl Alvarez recover from a heart attack. ‘Hypercaffium Spazzinate’, the band’s seventh full-length and first in twelve years, forms part of that recovery. Presented in the distinct Descendents way, it’s an acceptance of maturity, growth and struggle; the antithesis in theme to 1985’s ‘I Don’t Want To Grow Up’.
Descendents have grown up. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Alvarez expressed their desire to do so respectably. “I think a lot of rock bands aren’t very honest about that,” he says, speaking of the natural aging process, “they all want to exist in some universe where they’re perpetually between the ages of 21 and 35.” Instead, ‘Hypercaffium Spazzinate’ both celebrates and mourns the experience that comes with age. ‘Feel This’ opens the album with a theme of loss, speaking of the death of Alvarez’s mother, a stark contrast to the upbeat frivolity that characterised their earlier material.
The record journeys through these key developments in their personal lives, offsetting them with dramatically contrasting positivity. By the time it reaches penultimate track ‘Comeback Kid’, a cautiously uplifting tale of overcoming adversity, Aukerman has guided the record through tales of marital conflict, self-loathing and medication. Album closer ‘Beyond The Music’ puts the band members’ lives in context around Descendents, portraying the importance of their musical endeavour in relation to all else.
‘Hypercaffium Spazzinate’ carries a similar weight in its sound. Aukerman’s vocals are audibly and fittingly grittier. The instrumentation is more forceful without stepping too far from the hook-driven melody. Lead single ‘Victim Of Me’ represents the evolution well, a fundamentally upbeat punk-rock song sat against a heavy dose of self-reflection. Thought it’s by no means a huge step away from their previous outing, shifting the theme over the sound.
“I don’t have the time to be angry,” Aukerman continues on ‘We Got Defeat’, with it steering clear of hyperbole. Rather than lingering on the difficulties the band members have faced in recent years, it accepts them fully. “At the end of the day, you can look back on a game well played,” Descendents repeat on ‘Smile’. Although hopefully far from the band’s final moments, it’s a mantra that runs deep into ‘Hypercaffium Spazzinate’.
BEN TIPPLE