So there I was again, 3 a.m. and like the chronic insomniac I am, I was prowling around my apartment, looking for something to keep me mind whirring. I was patiently awaiting the sandman, when a blast from my middle school past, “Summertime” by Sublime crackled through the speakers.
Now I haven’t seriously listened to Sublime in about a decade, but the song’s familiar melody was like warm, delirious laundry, and it instantly began lulling me into a drowsy state.
I was about halfway to snoozapalooza when the next thing I heard was Adam Yauch’s guttural greeting, “Kick it!” and I’m like, “Wha…. are the Beastie Boys crashing through my door right now?”
Out of bed and looking at my computer screen, I see an album cover that I immediately presume it to have been snatched off an Ed Hardy T-shirt. Well as it turns out, it was Sublime with Rome’s second album “Sirens,” released on July 17.
The song I’d heard, which had sampled the Beasties, was the album’s eponymous track, a very vanilla and autotuned reggae rock number. Yes, unfortunately you read right—autotuned. Rest assured OG Sublime frontman Bradley Nowell is rolling in his proverbial grave at about 2,000 rotations per minute right now. I won’t say the track is an absolute train wreck, but me-oh-my is it ho-hum.
Which is why they must have had the bright idea to spice it up with some brief and boorish raps by members of the Dirty Heads. Nothing impressive here, folks—I’ve heard better freestyling from the guys that drink out in my alley. But don’t take my word for it, here’s a little taste of their piddling lyrics: “Rhymin’ with Sublime and sh*t/ So you can just go climb a d*ck.”
Groundbreaking stuff, eh?
So here’s where I should have stopped, gone to bed and saved thirty-plus minutes of my life. But duty calls, and this intrepid reporter decided to take the bullet for you, fellow readers, so that you won’t have to.
Holistically, the album is a mish-mash of punk, dub, ska, and rocksteady all rolled up into one sad, flaccid doob. The of problem is that regardless what flavor the band is going for, it all revolves around uninspired, formulaic composition, and eventually it all starts to sound homogenous and just meh stoner music.
Let me get on with the only compliment. “Promise Land Dub” is unequivocally the highlight this album. It’s heavy underwater ridem and reverb-soaked vocals are groovy and transporting. I will openly admit, here for all the world to read, that this tune induced some mild head-noddage. There.
Now a quick disclaimer: I’ve heard some say that it’s not fair to compare Sublime with Rome to the original Sublime line-up… waah-waah-waah, etc. And I know, I know, this horse has been beat for so long I’m hazarding the wrath of PETA even bringing it up.
But with Bass player Eric Wilson being the only member of Sublime with Rome to have played with the original Long Beach trio, and if Sublime with Rome has the audacity to keep the name, then you bet your hiney its fair to compare the two.
That cleared up, the biggest difference between “Siren” and say “40 Oz. to Freedom” is the absence of Nowell’s mordant wit. Instead we get lame generic gems like, “Yo, it’s a motherf*ckin house party/And I just wanna drink and burn/House party.”
Songs like “House Party” and “Wherever” are so basic that they seem to have been churned out by the same infernal pop-machine that helps populate the Top 40. I’d think the overproduction and skirting from experimentation would be downright repelling to fans of the original Sublime. Then again, perhaps that’s not who Sublime with Rome are trying to appeal to.
In some songs like “Skankin,” a Fishbone song that the original Sublime liked to cover, Sublime with Rome just sounds like a Sublime cover band. Alas, that seems to be all this band is destined to be.
In an interview preceding the albums release, Rome Ramirez expressed to Loudwire his intentions of honoring Sublime’s legacy. But good grief, we’ve already had to witness the abomination that is Queen + Adam Lambert in the name of honoring the original band.
With the calibre of the music displayed on this album, you’d expect this band to be gigging at a two-bit dive bar in Bakersfield instead of being on a major label.
In no uncertain terms, this album is a watered-down simulacrum of every genre it encompasses. But hey man, whatever turns your crank.
Rating: 2 stars out of 5
Record: Sirens
Release Date: July 17, 2015
Label: Fueled by Ramen