I didn’t realise Rancid had a new album out. Oh wait, this isn’t Rancid?
Time Again may as well tout themselves as a rancid tribute album because they sound pretty much identical to Tim, Lars and co. It doesn’t make this record a bad one because it’s not – if you like the Hellcat sound, and Christ this could only be released on that label, you’ll love this – but it does make it very unoriginal and you will find yourself thinking about that band that have a ‘R’ at the start of their name way too much. ‘Day Like This’ is a really good song, as is ‘Lines Are Faded’, but just listen to them and tell me they don’t sound identical to that other band I’ve mentioned in this review.
I know it’s incredibly lazy to base an entire review around the sound of another band, but Time Again borrow so much from Rancid ‘Darker Days’ becomes a bit of an annoying listen. Some of the tracks are fantastic – if you shut your eyes and imagine Rancid. If you like the Hellcat Records sound you will love this band. I guess they’ll get a lot of airplay on Mike Davies’ radio 1 show as well. But for me their lack of originality really hurts them.