Serious is a subjective term. In 25 years as a band, writing songs on such blithe yet cosmically related topics as girls, television and spicy food, the Descendents have been called a lot of things, and serious isn't one of them. On the other hand, ten albums and a best-of collection is a pretty serious output, regardless of the band's sometimes trifling subject matter. And though they've always affected an irreverent, lighthearted persona, the Descendents have written more than a handful of seriously great songs. Ever battling a self-styled "war against mediocrity," the band have witnessed the relentless ebb and flow of countless cultural trends, and on Cool to Be You, their first album in eight years, they continue to resist deviation from a sound they helped bring to the fore in the early 1980s.
After spending most of their first two decades on SST, the band moved to Epitaph in 1996 to release Everything Sucks, a wontedly transient collection of pop/punk nuggets, many of which saw immediate induction into the Descendents pantheon. "Coffee Mug" was a memorable, if paltry, punk seizure that beat Michael Johnson in his best 400 meters, and more importantly, kept pace with other classic sprints in the band's catalog. But following that effort, frontman and cover art muse Milo Auckerman returned to his on-again, off-again career as a chemist, effectively putting the Descendents on the backburner.
So behold the fruits of eight years' relentless experimentation-- that is, real experimentation, in an actual biochemical laboratory. Though it appears Auckerman's day job has finally earned him the bankroll to support a new pair of horned-rims, the Descendents have emerged as their same old selves. During their downtime, members Karl Alvarez, Stephen Egerton and ex-Black Flag drummer Bill Stevenson managed to release three studio albums as the wacky but inessential spin-off All, and while that band has never pulled the critical weight of the Descendents, it seems to have kept them sharp technically-- now reunited on Fat Wreck Chords, the group seems strong as ever, thrashing as always in the name of food and flatulence. Case in point: "Blast Off", a song that attempts to reconcile both interests with lyrics like, "Stay away from the chili verde/ Unless you want to get blown away," and, "Capsaicinoids are a thing to avoid/ Unless you want to burn in that 'roid."
While maturity may not have gained any import to the band in their time off, they remain as good for a hook as they were 20 years yore. "Talking" is the most anthemic of the Cool to Be You lot, featuring a winsome guitar melody, a giddy bassline, and Auckerman's typically pining verses. "Nothing with You" revels in their signature braindead juvenilia, and its music is pleasantly complementary. Meanwhile, on "Dreams", Milo affirms his reputation as an inwardly self-loathing nerd, spitting cynical, clever salvos like, "Why do I get my hopes up at all?/ I've been living this Walter Mitty life for too long." The song represents Cool to Be You's fiercest moment, and though it lacks pubescent humor, it would feel right at home amongst the band's 80s arsenal.
Elsewhere, the band waxes serious: On EP-carryover "'Merican", they step outside their teenage matrix and reach for relevance. The result, however, betrays the tongue-in-cheek introspectiveness that won the band the bulk of their adoration, and its lyrics about American arrogance and double standards not only lack the dumb fun of the rest of the record, but are also disconcertingly trite. Luckily, "One More Day" and "Maddie" are redeemingly heartfelt and riff-laden, while the album closer, "Dry Spell", catchily (if needlessly) reiterates the point. Its speedy final chorus seems somewhat anticlimactic-- but somehow, it seems humbly appropriate: Rather than forcing an ostentatious grand finale, the Descendents unassumingly steal away, leaving their legacy fully intact.
