NOFX, “Double Album.”

Fat Mike and NOFX were holding out on us with their previous release.

Turns out, there were more songs recorded for 2021’s Single Album that the band didn’t feel made the cut, but now we can all enjoy them on the comedically titled Double Album. Mike (Mike Burkett) has lamented how he felt many of these songs weren’t up to the band’s quality of standard, but he was wrong—that couldn’t be further from the truth.

The album opens with “Darby Crashing You Party,” with plucky bass followed by an intense electric guitar pickup. Fat Mike wails about his self-destructive tendencies and the circumstances that led him there, with a healthy dose of sincere (albeit satirical) introspection.

“My Favorite Enemy” builds on more or less the same ideas, but through the lens of Mike being his own worst enemy. He expresses how his propensity for impulsiveness creates a negative feedback loop, in which he seeks easy relief even when he knows that those decisions will only make things worse.

“Don’t Count on Me” is easily the most experimental song on the entire record, opening with a somber blues-inspired melody before a breakneck transition into a hard-rocking anthem, then closing with a transition into reggae. The song is more or less the polar opposite to Randy Newman’s “You Got a Friend in Me,” as Fat Mike promises he’s not reliable as a friend and is guaranteed to bring others down. It’s all tongue-in-cheek yet it’s relatable in how hard Mike is on himself.

Maintaining the same reggae melody, NOFX transitions into “Johanna Constant Teen.” Mike delivers an affectionate ode to a dominatrix who stayed with him in New York and pushed him to complete his musical, “Home Street Home.” The album lulls for a moment with “Punk Rock Cliche,” which has a bouncy and infectious melody even as Fat Mike sounds like he’s disinterested. Luckily, it’s the only low point.

“Fuck Day Six,” once again brings on the humor and crassness for which Mike and NOFX are known. The song’s about how he got clean from drugs at a Buddhist rehab center. The focus is on the presumed most difficult day in rehab when getting back on the wagon. The slow and light electric guitar melody picks up at rapid pace, emphasizing the drastic shift in the experience of such a personal hell. The following song, “Is It Too Soon if Time Is Relative?” is as a hilarious tasteless send-up of Stephen Hawking. Mike sings about his desire to remain lethargic and inactive.

NOFX lovingly references its agent, David Pollock—who’s infamous for his abrasive demeanor akin to Fat Mike—on “Alcopollack.” The track pokes fun at how many bands he’s gone through and pissed off over the years, and yet for some reason, NOFX continues to work with him. A ’90s skate-punk vibe that the band popularized since debut release Punk In Drublic permeates the song.

“Three Against Me” has a similar sonic theme, yet its composition is tonally the opposite. It’s a powerful and heartbreaking track where Mike airs his grievances against his family (particularly his three brothers) whom he says abused him growing up. The song stands out for its serious subject matter here, even as it musically fits in. The heaviness sticks around for album-capper “Gone with the Heroined,” where Mike reflects on his time addicted to the drug.

Double Album is a quality release that improves on it’s predecessor in many ways, and NOFX could have improved an already strong Single Album by including some of these songs on it a year ago.

Follow hip-hop critic Tim Hoffman at Twitter.com/hipsterp0tamus.