Splinter

1	Neocon 1:06
2	The Noose 3:18
3	Long Way Home 2:23
4	Hit That 2:49
5	Race Against Myself 3:32
6	(Can't Get My) Head Around You 2:15
7	The Worst Hangover Ever 2:58
8	Never Gonna Find Me 2:39
9	Lightning Rod 3:20
10	Spare Me the Details 3:24
11	Da Hui 1:42
12	When You're in Prison

Barnes & Noble

The Offspring have a rep for successfully splitting the difference between songs that boil over with pull-my-finger chortles and songs that threaten to pull the pin on political grenades -- and for linking the two with simple riff clusters that stick to the listener like brambles. Here, the SoCal vets are as peripatetic as ever, blasting through some prickly social ranting on the drill team–styled "Neocon" and trolling goofily through eternal post-adolescence on the ska-flavored bedspin ode "The Worst Hangover Ever." They stick close to infectious punk basics for most of the album's tracks -- the keyboard-laced "Hit It" follows in the tradition of "Come Out and Play," while "Never Gonna Find Me" harks back to Ignition-styled speedballing -- but there are still a few surprises. "Spare Me the Details," for instance, finds guitarist Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman forsaking the advances of ol' Tom Edison for an acoustic foray, and "When You're in Prison" revives a pre-WWII novelty song complete with effects mimicking the scratches of a well-worn 78 record. More than 15 years on, the Offspring formula remains pretty much unchanged -- but consistency never hurt McDonald's, right? David Sprague

All Music Guide

It's more mixing of stylized punk revival and hybridism with left-field musical experimentation and in-the-now pop culture lyrical references on Splinter, the Offspring's seventh full-length. "Never Gonna Find Me," "Long Way Home," and "Lightning Rod" each bristle with overdriven guitars and Dexter Holland's high-pitched bleating; they're somewhat workmanlike, but still roil with that precision fury particular to a veteran band. At the same time, Holland, guitarist Noodles, and bassist Greg Kriesel can't resist returning to the towel-slapping trash humor and mean-spirited loathing that typified past tracks like "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)" and "Self Esteem." Lead single "Hit That" talks up baby daddies over a bopping bassline and keyboard right out of a Bloodhound Gang track, while "Spare Me the Details" subverts its lighthearted acoustic strum with foul-mouthed (on the clean version, anyway) attacks on a philandering girlfriend ("I'm not the one who acted like a ho"). "Da Hui" overdrives surf rock while paying homage to hardcore Hawaiian board riders, and "When You're in Prison" ends Splinter with sage advice about protecting your dignity in the clink. Longtime fans will be more than happy with Splinter, which crams every last piece of the Offspring puzzle -- slickly produced rock racket, hints of anti-establishment rabble-rousing, and reams of relationship and strip mall culture gaggery -- into its brief half-hour run time. Johnny Loftus

Rolling Stone

Like jokey pioneers the Ramones, the Offspring could keep riding their dumb humor and smart riffs well into middle age. Christian Hoard

Blender

[The Offspring] still specializes in galloping, Bad Religion-style protest punk complemented by occasional rhythmic variation. Mark Jenkins