Transplants – In A Warzone

With an outfit consisting of Tim Armstrong from the legendary Rancid and Travis Barker from equally famous Blink 182, you know what kind of music you’re going to be letting yourself in for and what kind of quality you expect. Transplants have always been an eclectic mix of the styles these two have never fully expressed in their projects such as electronica, funk and even hip hop mixed with their massive punk influences. Does it work? Indeed it does! Though needs a bit of fine tuning.

Opening track Warzone repeatedly yells the album title right in your face over doom-mongering guitars heralding chaos and drums racing ahead at the speed of light in true punk fashion, before belting into See It To Believe It, a song reminiscent of Boxcar Racer musically in bursts but not out of place on a Rancid record with its lively beat and ska-punk vocals though it doesn’t quite hold the same punch you’d expect from this band.

Something’s Different and Its A Problem bring in the strange hip hop mix into this release. The juxtaposition of a slow, soothing synth beat over rap that suddenly plunges into crashing guitars and ballzy vocals creates something lively, something new amongst the music scene now. It’s A Problem also brings in a psychedelic funky element to the already strange recipe that is sure to be a hit live as it makes you move without your brains consent. It is THAT catchy.

Completely Detached and Gravestones and Burial Plots can only be described as a B-movie horror plots put into lyrics. They’re quite uncomfortable listens not only because of the spooky, eerie, off-key instruments behind hailing Hammer Horror, but because of the sudden change to an almost hardcore front with graphic lyrics. This isn’t like Transplants at all!

The new hardcore edge on these tracks shows further diversity musically with more power chords than you can imagine and throaty vocals, but also makes the album seem messy and just thrown together, too much of a good thing can spoil said good thing. By the end of this album, this sentiment is clear, especially with regards to song length; it seems like one large rush of different bands and tracks rammed together to create a monster and although each track works on its own respectively, as a collective it needs a bit of tweaking.

Closing track Exit the Wasteland is very similar to Warzone and so we have come full circle in this obscure musical journey. It’s nothing special track wise really, just a generic punk track but that doesn’t mean it’s not good. It’s crafted perfectly and shows what this band do best with their decades of experience.

It’s taken many listens to get my head around this album; even now I’m still a little undecided on my opinion on this release due to the eclectic mix of styles and sounds within. Regardless of this, it shows years of experience and passion for music and the drive to try something different just for the love of music. Can’t complain about that!

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