Awful Album Reviews #1: The Offspring - Conspiracy of One

Hey music fans, I am back here for another post! This is the start of a new series I am doing called Awful Album Reviews, which is basically where I review an album of my or your choice! I will be doing these quite often, so if there's an album you'd like to see me review then leave your suggestions in the comments or in my Discord DMs (username is @! Slayer69 !#8631) because I would love to hear them. So yeah, let's start with the first review!



INTRODUCTION

Conspiracy of One is the sixth album released by punk rockers The Offspring. This album, which was the band's last with longtime drummer Ron Welty, debuted at #9 on the Billboard 200, and despite it not being successful as its predecessor Americana, it was certified platinum by the RIAA in the US. Tomorrow, which is November 14, marks the 18th anniversary of this album, so that's why I am here to give it a review! This should be a good test album for these reviews, so let's get right into it!



REVIEW

I can't exactly remember when I first listened to the album, probably around a month or two ago or something. It was not my first Offspring album, but it wasn't my last either. I thought it would be pretty good, but not as good as albums like Americana or Smash. Turns out I was sort of right. More on that later. Anyways, the first thing about this album that caught my ears was the third track, which is the album's most successful single, "Original Prankster". At first I thought it would be cool because it featured rapper and Wu-Tang Clan affiliate Redman, who has made some pretty good music in the past. But it wasn't just that. Everything about the song sounded so well to me, so much that Redman's contributions became a minority. And that right there is what captivated me and made me excited to hear more.

Aside from "Original Prankster", the album had a few other songs I kept on rotation for some time, including "Come Out Swinging", "Million Miles Away", "Dammit, I Changed Again", and "Special Delivery". And today, those five songs remain as my personal top five favorite songs from the album. Unfortunately, though, only two of those five were released as singles, which is one downside to the album in my opinion. I feel like the single choices were sort of weak, as the three main ones were "Original Prankster", "Want You Bad", and "Million Miles Away". There's also "Defy You", which charted on the Billboard Hot 100. I think "Want You Bad" is a great song, but not in the top five best off of the album, and I could say the same for "Defy You". Personally, if I had to pick the singles, I would have chosen "Original Prankster" as the lead, "Million Miles Away" as a promo singles, and then release "Dammit, I Changed Again" and "Special Delivery" after the album was out. That's just me, though.

As for the album as a whole, I think the punk theme going here is very interesting and fun to listen to. There are pretty much only upbeat songs on here, and while I certainly don't mind slower songs, most of the time I prefer more upbeat ones, like the ones on this album. That works out very well for me. Also, I think Dexter Holland has some great vocal performances on this album, which really helps to make it what it is. Noodles also strikes again by matching his riffs well with the songs and Dexter's vocals. I'm not sure about what the lyrics of all the songs could equal, but I have an idea of what the album title could have to do with those. And my only two real issues with some songs on the album are that they sound slightly too hardcore and that they could have slightly more to them. However, the key word here is "slightly", which comes to show how much I enjoy this album. But how and why did I enjoy this album exactly? Let's look into that with a short review of each track.



TRACK-BY-TRACK REVIEWS:

1. "Intro"
Rating: N/A
Comments: It's a very cool introduction, although it's only six seconds long. What's funny is if you'd play it just before a very weird song, such as 6ix9ine's "GUMMO". That might seem weird, but you'll see what I'm talking about if you did that. Nothing else to say about this.

2. "Come Out Swinging"
Rating: 9.5/10
Comments: Very catchy song for sure. My only problem is that it feels slightly too hardcore, which I'm not sure fits into this album. But everything else is on point.

3. "Original Prankster"
Rating: 10/10
Comments: Everything about this is just so fun! The keyboards do a perfect job of making it sound uplifting and happy, plus the fact that Dexter sounds very excited throughout the song. I also enjoy Redman's contributions.

4. "Want You Bad"
Rating: 9.5/10
Comments: I think this is very good, it just feels slightly underwhelming for some reason. Not sure why. I'm fine with it as a single, I would just prefer something like "Dammit, I Changed Again".

5. "Million Miles Away"
Rating: 10/10
Comments: Everything just clicks right together here and makes the song sound amazing. Also I'm not sure why but it sounds like a perfect promo single for this album.

6. "Dammit, I Changed Again"
Rating: 10/10
Comments: I love everything about this song! The riffs are very catchy and when Dexter booms out that chorus, it's amazing! This is what real punk music sounds like to me, and real punk music is always awesome.

7. "Living In Chaos"
Rating: 9.5/10
Comments: The guitar riff is the main thing that draws me into this one. It is somewhat forgettable in my opinion but I wish to get that feeling away because it's a great song.

8. "Special Delivery"
Rating: 9.5/10
Comments: A great punk vibe lies in this song, although I feel like it should have slightly more to it. One thing I love for some reason is that bridge, where Dexter repeatedly says, "You can't kill a man when he's got no hope". Does a great job of building up to that last chorus.

9. "One Fine Day"
Rating: 9/10
Comments: Really cool guitar riff here. But just like "Come Out Swinging", I feel like this is slightly too hardcore, although the song is good.

10. "All Along"
Rating: 9.5/10
Comments: For some reason I feel like this is a lite combination of "Dammit, I Changed Again" and "No Brakes" from Americana. It's not as good as either of those two songs, but it's an enjoyable listen.

11. "Denial, Revisited"
Rating: 8.5/10
Comments: Cool song, but my issue with it is that I don't think this is a type of song that The Offspring should've done. It feels like more of a mid-2000s emo-type thing. But they did do it, and they mostly did it well.

12. "Vultures"
Rating: 9.5/10
Comments: Pretty chill song, which isn't something you hear from a punk band every day.

13. "Conspiracy of One"
Rating: 9.5/10
Comments: Really catchy and hooky, just slightly too hardcore for me.



ALBUM RANKDOWN

1. "Original Prankster"
2. "Dammit, I Changed Again"
3. "Million Miles Away"
4. "Special Delivery"
5. "Come Out Swinging"
6. "Conspiracy of One"
7. "Want You Bad"
8. "Vultures"
9. "Living In Chaos"
10. "All Along"
11. "One Fine Day"
12. "Denial, Revisited"



OVERALL SCORE

114/120 = 9.5/10 = 0.95 = 95%



FINAL WORDS

To sum up, I really enjoyed this album! There were lots of catchy tracks with great instrumentation and vocals on it for sure. It's definitely not my favorite Offspring album, but it was a very enjoyable listen that I would be excited to listen to again. If you want to hear the goodness for yourself, you can take a listen to the album on YouTube here or on Spotify here. But until then, that wraps up this post, and I'll see you guys next time!