For all its rule breaking and genre stretching, In A Warzone works best when Transplants stay within their comfort zone, delivering punk rock at its most unpretentious and uncomplicated.
In case you suffer immediate short term memory loss in the split second between pressing play and the album starting, Transplants are sure to remind you that you're listening to In A Warzone, by handily chanting “In a warzone” no less than a dozen times in the first 20 seconds. And that almost sums up what really works in this third long player from Tim Armstrong (Rancid, Operation Ivy), Travis Barker (Blink-182) and singer/rapper, 'Skinhead' Rob Aston.
It's also a good indicator of what's to follow. Read the track listing and you're basically reading the lyric sheet to the chorus of each track. Tim Armstrong still has the best bad voice in punk rock and when combined with Barker, their credentials are hard to deny. Tracks like the titular opener, Silence and Any Of Them are straight up punk, while something like All Over Again mixes punk with hip hop in a way that's not nearly as terrible as it could (or probably should) be. Something's Different relegates the guitars to the backseat with jaunty piano and occasional analogue beats for In A Warzone's closest attempt at pure hip hop. But that's not the extent of the genre bending. It's A Problem is built around surf guitar and theremin, Gravestones And Burial Plots borders on straight up metal, while Come Around sounds like a band playing behind chicken wire at Bob's Country Bunker.
For all its rule breaking and genre stretching, In A Warzone works best when Transplants stay within their comfort zone, delivering punk rock at its most unpretentious and uncomplicated.