Album Review: Transplants - In A Warzone

This third release for punk rock stalwarts Transplants sees the band continuing along the path they paved for themselves with their self-titled, sophomore album, Haunted Cities. Tim Armstrong's beard may be running rampant, but he's lost none of the gravel from the voice that made him famous in Rancid, while Blink 182's Travis Barker still knows how to smash out a tom-roll with gusto.

Opening the good times with the album's namesake, the three-piece (also featuring rock-rapper Rob Aston on vocals), immediately get the ball rolling with this call-and-response number that starts out nasty before slipping into lighter one-four-five chord territory. It's hard not to bob one's head to second track See It To Believe It, which sees Armstrong take to the microphone for verses before the rousing group-vocal chorus. Come Around is what good-time punk rock is all about and could easily be the soundtrack for a barbecue on a lazy summer's afternoon.

A little on the lacklustre side, Something's Different showcases Aston's penchant for rapping and could definitely have done without the weak pitter-patter of programmed drum sections. The band redeem themselves, however, with Any Of Them, during which Armstrong expresses his ethos for life simply and to the point through the lyrics. Silence starts out with an arse-whooping drum fill that couldn't help but include a guitar-pick scrape to bring in the opening verse – it's a killer little 90-second blast. Another slump in an otherwise tight album is It's A Problem, which sees more bland rapping over a dull Casio beat and Dick Dale rip-off melody. Thankfully ending on a pearler, Exit The Wasteland is a reminder that when this band is on point, they kick dick.