Nickelback, “Get Rollin’.”

Nearly three decades later and 10 albums in, you know the sound of Nickelback. The Canadian rockers’ mix of fist-pumping drinking anthems and riff-heavy love songs has been a staple of mainstream rock. The band has even outlasted the scorn from the peanut gallery, taking it in stride and joining in with self-deprecating jokes along the way.

The quartet made Get Rollin’ without outside help, with vocalist Chad Kroeger and guitarist Ryan Peake producting and engineering. Nickelback even manages itself now, which allowed it to set its own timeline.

On one hand, the album is in line with what you’d expect from Nickelback, but on the other, the band allows makes some left turns as well. Get Rollin’ is a free-flowing party record that doesn’t take its self too seriously but doesn’t lose the well-crafted anthems.

Kroeger finds a lyrical cadence on the heavier tracks that gives them a danceable swagger. Opener “San Quentin,” inspired by a conversation between Kroeger and one of the prison’s wardens at a Guy Fieri birthday party (yes, read that again), is as dialed-in a hard-rocker as Nickelback has made in years. It’s fun, the riffs are larger than life and the harmonies are tight. Guitar solos are few and far between on Get Rollin’, but Kroeger delivers some impressive work on the fretboard here. Drummer Daniel Adair and bassist Mike Kroeger adeptly hold down the driving rhythm section.

Down-tuned rocker “Skinny Little Missy” falls somewhere between Feed the Machine and No Fixed Address on the spectrum of Nickelback hard-rockers. The track works for many of the same reasons as “San Quentin.” There’s no room for nuance with the blazing guitars, thunderous drumming and Kroger’s gravely delivery—all of which are turned up to the max. The mood changes for nostalgic acoustic tune “Those Days,” a not so distant relative of the band’s other radio-ready anthems like “Photograph” and “Someday.” Despite the similarities, Kroeger has a keen ability to make it different enough.

Want something that’s new? Southern rock song “High Time” is without a precedent in the band’s catalog.

While the band has dabbled in country in the past, this is the deepest South it has ever traveled; a cocktail of Willie Nelson, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Nickelback. It takes an adjustment getting used to Kroeger’s country drawl as he sings about hopping in a van and lighting up for a canabis-infused road trip. It’s fun, endlessly catchy and may not be a bad musical avenue for the band to explore future.

Requisite drinking song “Vegas Bomb” is exactly what you might expect—sex, drugs and rock and roll—through the lens of a wild night in Sin City. From the gang vocals to the nimble fret work, it takes some of its cues from the rock anthems of the ’80s.

The second half of the album takes on a very different personality. The tracks are still rooted in rock but the band trades in heaviness for dynamics and atmosphere. The airy and melodic “Tidal Wave” tells a love story through the metaphor of ocean surfing. Peake’s guitar playing is spacious and Kroeger’s harmonies are lush and full. “Does Heaven Even Know” is a lighters-up power ballad in every sense. This acoustic song taps into some of the country sensibilities of “High Time,” but it’s more earnest with the songwriting.

The bluesy stomp of “Steel Still Rusts” evokes memories of Alice In Chains, not only with the acoustic-meets-distortion sound, but in Kroeger’s multilayered harmonies. The singer once again takes to the seas for the mid-tempo rocker “Horizon,” the most lyrically infectious track on the album.

“So how long before the stars will all align/ Or I am just chasing your love like it’s just on the next horizon,” Kroeger sings.

“Standing In The Dark” picks things back up. It’s upbeat but isn’t built on riffs and heaviness—rather, energy and singing. The band concludes Get Rollin’ with the aptly titled “Just One More,” a slickly brooding rocker with Kroeger’s echoing vocals. The album closer best evokes Nickelback’s earliest songs but mixes in lush, modern production.

Follow writer Mike DeWald at Twitter.com/mike_dewald.