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Review: Transplants' new CD 'Haunted Cities' speaks to
everyone
By Jeremy Wilkins
June 28, 2005 | When Tim Armstrong
(Rancid), Travis Barker (Blink 182, MTV's Meet The
Barkers) and Rob Aston came together and released
their self-titled debut record in 2002, they sold around
15 million albums in the U.S. alone -- and they were
just having fun.
"In the beginning, it wasn't even going to be a record.
It wasn't going to be released. So everything's a bonus,"
Aston (vocals) said in a recent interview with Morley
Seaver from NowOnTour.
June 21 they released their second album, Haunted
Cities, and have a spot on the North stage at this
year's Warped Tour with the likes of rock legends Billy
Idol, The Offspring, Thrice and My Chemical Romance,
among several others. One could say things are going
well for them.
The question is, will Haunted Cities live up to the
15 million mark of the 2002 self-titled album? I think
so.
Cities, released on Barker's own La Salle
Records, shows the trio has the ability to keep things
fresh without losing the catchiness which made the first
album a success.
The combination of Aston's raspy rapping/screaming
and Armstrong's relaxed and slurred vocals are more
fine-tuned than before and flow together even better,
with Armstrong showing a stronger voice than most of
the songs from the prior record.
With tracks such as Not Today, American
Guns and Madness sounding like punk/hardcore/rap
we see the Transplants treading on familiar ground,
a comfort to all who have grown to love that sound so
much. While they continue to show with tracks such as
these how they sold so well, there
are many more reasons to love Haunted Cities.
The first single, Gangsters and Thugs, has
already received radio play across the country, allowing
the catchy chorus, "Gangsters and thugs/Criminals and
hoods/Some of my friends sell records/Some of my friends
sell drugs," a voice to a wide audience.
Aside from the attention Gangsters and Thugs
has received, there is so much more to Cities. What
I Can't Describe, the fifth track, emits a '70s
funk/rap melody feel that is, I must say, irresistible
and impressive. Rife with guest appearances from Sen
Dog and B. Real (Cypress Hill), Rakaa (Dialated Peoples)
and Boo-Yaa TRIBE, a wide variety of styles is apparent.
Go buy it, put it in your CD player and enjoy.
SL
SL
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