Although Wolves in Wolves' Clothing starts off with a promising bang, NOFX loses footing halfway in and stumbles downhill for the rest of the record. Maybe it shouldn't be a surprise when the first line of the amusing opening track proclaims, "I'm not here to entertain you...I'm here because old habits die hard/And seriously what else am I supposed to do?" But even so, expectations were pretty high coming into the album off their smartly wry EP Never Trust a Hippy, which was released a month earlier. Beginning well enough, the first half of Wolves is full of super-tight, tongue-in-cheek punk ock antics that make one think and laugh at the same time. "Seeing Double at the Triple Rock" is a seriously fun tune with charging guitar riffs that usher in drunken good times over at Dillinger Four guitarist Erik Funk's popular Minnesotan social club. NOFX's unabashed distaste for George W. and his cronies emerges blatantly in the thick bass of "USA-holes" and less outwardly in the bouncy, country-ish saunter of "The Man I Killed." Fat Mike also addresses the war in Iraq differently than just outright attacking the government -- a junkie friend successfully cleans himself up by joining the Army, only to later get killed in "Benny Got Blowed Up." Serious topics (including many attacks on overzealous Bible-thumpers) tempered with NOFX's trademark sarcastic nature soon become much shorter and less fun near the album's middle. The trouble isn't that the songs are just short -- quick in-and-out blasts are normally quite satisfying -- it's that these tunes just seem unfinished or plain forgettable. A few exceptions appear, like the brash "100 Times F*ckeder" or the sentimental quasi-elegy to friends lost over the years in "Doornails," but it's not enough to make the hodgepodge feeling of filler songs near the end disappear. Thus, Wolves in Wolves' Clothing simply lacks that cohesive sense of being an entire album to enjoy. It's not that NOFX have lost their ability to offend, mock, challenge, and entertain in one sardonic, glistening package. Just the opposite, actually: over two decades old, the band really sounds as tight, relevant, and sharp as ever. It's just that the second half seems a bit lazy overall, which makes the inherent lack of fun all the more frustrating.
I am back on the job search again, decided to start of 2007 with an intensive search. I went to Monster, and what do I see, the exact job I had interviewed for a month earlier. I have a friend who works at the company and she had confirmed that they indeed hired someone for the position. This exact same job came down to me and one other fellow. After 4 interviews, they went with him, and told m...
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My roommate Erick and I were in our living room listening to the new(er) NOFX CD the other day, just kind of talking when he starts to talk about this girl at his work. He used the term "punk" to describe her. I should preface this by saying I'm a staunch believer in the Darby Crash idea of punk: everyone who mattered is dead and the rest are just in an imitative state of dying. Of course, I th...
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I am back on the job search again, decided to start of 2007 with an intensive search. I went to Monster, and what do I see, the exact job I had interviewed for a month earlier. I have a friend who works at the company and she had confirmed that they indeed hired someone for the position. This exact same job came down to me and one other fellow. After 4 interviews, they went with him, and told m...
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I guess this isn't just about me. It's easy to say that my alcaholisim dosn't hurt anyone but me but I have to see that it's a burden on my family and on those who I associate with while drunk. Not to mention my sober friends who are pulling for me to get off the sauce. Sadly most of those who would love to show me some sort of fun filled life outside of alcahol live too far away to actually do...
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Here's a little NOFX for mog world. with a tank of gas costing 40$ for a compact car and rednecks loading up on assult weapons, and the inner city youth organizing anarchist terror cells I feel like i can safely predict the future and it taint some kinda obama wonderland either. It's seven doller a gallon gas and riots. It's looting, war, and death. it's the end of the fucking world man enjoy the
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My roommate Erick and I were in our living room listening to the new(er) NOFX CD the other day, just kind of talking when he starts to talk about this girl at his work. He used the term "punk" to describe her. I should preface this by saying I'm a staunch believer in the Darby Crash idea of punk: everyone who mattered is dead and the rest are just in an imitative state of dying. Of course, I th...
More >
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 "Wolves in Wolves' Clothing")
