The Offspring, “SUPERCHARGED.”

I don’t mean to alarm anyone but Smash, the breakout album by The Offspring, was released 30 years ago.

Three decades is a very long time to maintain the frenetic pace of the band’s early skate punk; frontman Dexter Holland’s high vocal register couldn’t stay that high forever, and guitarist Kevin “Noodles” Wasserman is about a year older than vice presidential candidate Tim Walz.

Generally speaking, there are three ways for an established, popular band to handle aging. The first is to deny it and continue trying to maintain the same style; which inevitably leads to the county fair circuit. The second is to transition to a new, mellower style. Nobody will buy your new albums, but people will go to shows for the nostalgia. The third tactic, which is the most difficult but lends itself to the most longevity, is to mature your band’s sound without losing whatever unique aspect made you popular in the first place.

The Offspring is one of the few bands to pull off that third option, and its 11th album, SUPERCHARGED, is an excellent example of how it’s done.

When The Offspring released Let the Bad Times Roll in 2021—nine years after their previous release—Holland’s register had dropped a bit, and the guitar pitch dropped with it, which was a significant departure from most of what the band had done prior. The concepts were there, and they hit on a few standout tracks, but there were misses as well. The band was experimenting with how to merge the benefits (more experience, more refinement) and drawbacks (advancing age).

On SUPERCHARGED, the band has a far better grasp on what it’s doing. It got used to its new members after quite a bit of turnover (founding bassist Greg Kriesel was fired for undisclosed reasons in 2018 and longtime drummer Pete Parada in 2021 for refusing to get vaccinated for COVID-19). It all shows in the consistency and quality of the result.

This is obvious from the first track, “Looking Out For #1.” There’s still some of the signature (or infamous, depending on your view) “whoas,” but they’re missing Holland’s distinctive vibrato, suggesting another band member is jumping in. In the live show, it was multi-instrumentalist Jonah Nimoy, the grandson of Leonard, if you were about to look it up.

The album checks all the expected boxes: There’s a pop-inspired single in “Make It All Right.” There’s a self-deprecating song about staying in a bad relationship in “Ok, But This Is the Last Time,” which admittedly doesn’t resonate as well from a bunch of long-married dads than “Self Esteem” did from some nerdy 20-somethings. There’s social commentary in “Truth in Fiction.” And—crucially—they’re all very good—each of those songs is a highlight.

There’s also some outside-the-box experimentation. The guitars parts in “Come To Brazil” sound like thrash metal. Whether that’s Noodles branching out or the new band members bringing their own influences, it works surprisingly well.

It’s not all perfect, of course. “Light it Up” could be a B-side to “Looking Out For #1,” and it’s a little weird because it doesn’t seem intentional. The beginning of “You Can’t Get There From Here” sounds suspiciously like a slowed version of the beginning of “Dammit, I Changed Again,” from 2000’s Conspiracy of One.

SUPERCHARGED isn’t as good as Smash or Ixnay on the Hombre. It ironically isn’t as supercharged as The Offspring or Ignition. But it’s probably the best Offspring album since 2003’s Splinter. Holland and company sound like a band that’s put its changes and turmoil behind it, rediscovered what music they want to make and enjoyed making it.

Follow publisher Daniel J. Willis at @bayareadata.press on BlueSky.