Transplants - In a Warzone

  by Adrian Huggins

published: 15 / 7 / 2013

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Being the serious music writer as I am, I am not swayed by the words and opinions of others. I am, however, also intrinsically a complete liar, and as such had read a few reviews of ‘In A Warzone’ before it landed on my own doorstep to add my two pennies worth to the fold. The consensus was, to be honest, rubbish. As such I gingerly put the disc on my CD player in the hope that the others were wrong. After all I’m a pretty big Rancid fan, to the point where I have words penned by Tim Armstrong himself inked on my arm, (and in some bizarre coincidence the Transplants’ debut album sound-tracked the first time I went “under the needle”). I was severely hoping I wouldn’t be totally disappointed, and I wasn’t for the vast majority of on ‘In a Warzone’ . The band, however, seem to have stripped things back to a much more straightforward punk sound as opposed to their genre-crossing previous albums. . Two songs on here that delve into hip-hop sounds come in the form of ‘It’s a Problem’ and ‘Something Different’ , the latter which could easily be as big a hit as the band’s most widely recognised song ‘Diamonds and Guns’. Its summer soul and 90’s hip-hop vibe are coupled with a swagger and feel that wouldn’t be out of place in early 90’s Manchester. Other than those very obvious jaunts into other musical territory I find ‘In A Warzone’ a very punk rock album. It could be taken either way I suppose but a lot of the material sounds like it could sit quite easily amongst Rancid’s 2009 album ‘Let The Dominoes Fall’, which isn’t a band thing if you ask me. The title track and ‘See It to Believe It’ would give my theory some backing, while ‘Back To You’ has a hint off ‘Red Hot Moon’ from 2003’s ‘Indestructible’. Part of this Rancid-alike-sound might be down to drummer Travis Barker’s playing, which feels like it is generally quite a toned-down version of what the Blink 182 sticks man normally puts out. I actually quite like this as rather than sounding like someone from another planet you find the pleasures hidden in there, particularly around 1:59 into the opening track. These moments of utter genius just feel that extra bit special situated within the mildly refined style which helps give the band as a whole a more together sound. All in all, I was more than pleasantly not disappointed by this. I’m not quite sure what people expect from the Transplants, but ‘In A Warzone’ sounds like a band completely at ease with themselves doing what all punks should do – playing music they dig. I’m not sure it will change the world or stand out as a classic, but I don’t think Rancid fans or Transplants fans would be disappointed by this.

Track Listing:-

1 In A Warzone
2 See It To Believe It
3 Back To You
4 Come Around
5 Something's Different
6 Any Of Them
7 Silence
8 All Over Again
9 It's A Problem
10 Completely Detach
11 Gravestones And Burial Plots
12 Exit The Wasteland

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/TransplantsOfficial
http://thetransplants.com/
https://twitter.com/TransplantsBand
https://plus.google.com/+thetransplants/posts
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheTransplantsBand

Label Links:-

http://epitaph.com/
https://www.facebook.com/epitaphrecords
http://epitaphrecords.tumblr.com/
http://www.kingsroadmerch.com/epitaph-records/region/
https://twitter.com/epitaphrecords
https://www.youtube.com/epitaph

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