***1/2 Rancid

RANCID

(Hellcat/Epitaph)

For a while there, it seemed a foregone conclusion -- whether or not they'd set out to inherit the guttersnipe-punk legacy of the Clash, the East Bay believers in Rancid had become the next best thing to the real deal and the closest thing alienated mohawked kids in the '90s were going to get to a riot of their own. Clash-o-mania. The Sha Na Na of punk. Or just a kick-ass band who knew a good thing when they heard it. On their last CD, 1998's London Calling-length Life Won't Wait (Epitaph), Tim, Matt, Lars, and Brett even moved on from the occasional ska tune ("Rudy Can't Fail") to indulge in a little laid-back reggae and dub. Shades of "Armageddon Time" or maybe even the Lee Perry sessions. Black Market Rancid. But something happened on the way to Sandinista. A homonymous album five discs into their recording career? It's back to the drawing board for Rancid in 2000. Back to the one-two punch of primal hardcore punk, like Discharge or the Exploited or, maybe at their most tuneful, early, early Social D. These bands all came after the Clash, but times were tough and they were reaching back to something harder, faster, louder, and less complicated even than "Clash City Rockers."

And that's where Rancid find themselves now, bashing out no fewer than 22 songs in exactly 38:22 -- which averages out to 1:45 per song. They've shifted gears into maximum overdrive: Tim and Lars can hardly catch their breath before Brett slaps down the next backbeat, and in "It's Quite Alright" Tim doesn't even try to keep up -- you'll want to reach in and give his ragged voice a little nudge forward by the time he gets to the second verse. Rancid is a meaner, denser, angrier, more explosive album than anyone had any reason to expect, though it isn't without the occasional oasis of melody, like "Let Me Go," an echo-laden anthem with a nice little rusty hook poking through the fuzztone guitars. Oh, and "Radio Havana" is pure Clash City rawk in the "Capital Radio" vein. If George W. really is on his way to Washington, then Rancid couldn't have come along at a better time.

-- Matt Ashare