What do you get when you have a band with Tim Armstrong from Rancid, Travis Barker from Blink-182, Kevin Bivona from The Interrupters, and Skinhead Rob from Expensive Taste? Why you get the next band on the Chopping Block that being The Transplants. Now I have been lucky enough to have seen them twice and both times they were great and with that let’s take a look…..
Transplants- does anyone remember the song from the Garnier Fructis commercial from the early 2000’s??? Well if you don’t then listen to the song Diamonds And Guns and that should hopefully jar your memory. But aside from that song, the rest of this album has a great mixture of punk rock meets hip-hop. Now I don’t normally listen to hip-hop, but this album is just so much fun that it fits perfectly. There are also some great guest musicians such as Davey Havok, Brody Dalle, and Lars Frederickson. I’ll give this album 8.5/10
Standouts: Tall Cans In The Air, One Seventeen, Down In Oakland
Haunted Cities- I remember when this came out. The song Gangsters And Thugs was always being played on KROQ and I was lucky enough to have seen them twice during this era. Once at the 2005 Warped Tour and the other being The 2005 KROQ Weenie Roast and they were just so much fun. Now, as far as the album is concerned, yes it does still have that punk rock meets hip-hop sound, but it also adds elements of ska. I don’t want to say that it’s another Rancid album because it’s not however, if you wondered what a hip-hop sounding Rancid album could sound like, then this would be the closest thing. Again much like the first album this is just such a fun record and I’m gonna go ahead and give it 8.5/10
Standouts: Not Today, Doomsday, Madness
In A Warzone- to me this one kinda is the least sounding hip-hop album. At this point it almost sounds like a Rancid album. I don’t know. They just feel feels like there’s something lacking with this one. I don’t wanna say it’s a bad album, but it’s maybe not as strong as the other two. Overall, it’s not a bad album, but I just couldn’t get into it as much as the first two. I’ll give it 7/10.
Standouts: Completely Detach, See It To Believe It, Any Of Them
Take Cover- well I guess they decided to do the obligatory covers album/EP. It’s only a seven song EP and includes covers from bands like Minor Threat, Madness, and Beastie Boys. I don’t know the way I feel about covers albums is if you’re going to take the time to record someone else’s material just write original songs. But then again, maybe they had to write this who knows? I do find it a little annoying when bands act like they’re releasing any material and then it turned out to be them playing other band’s songs. Again, not a bad EP, but one that I probably won’t go back to anytime soon. I’ll give it 7/10.
Standouts: Saturday Night, Won’t Be Coming Back
At the end of the day, this is just a really fun band and when I saw them, you can tell they were having a lot of fun. Hopefully we get brand new original material, which is reminiscent of the first two albums, but it’s kinda hard to see at this point with everybody in the band doing their own projects. But we shall see and until then definitely check out the first two albums because as I’ve said before, they are just so much fun. If you haven’t heard of this band and you’re a fan of any of their respective projects, please listen to their albums because you will not regret it.
Final Score: B
Album Rankings:
- Haunted Cities
- Transplants
- In A Warzone
- Take Cover
Sinister Reviews 