Rating: NN
Sublime’s Bradley Nowell died of a drug overdose in 1996 just months before the breakthrough success of the band’s self-titled album, robbing him of the chance to hear countless acoustic versions of Santeria performed by dreadlocked white boys on front porches.
Fifteen years later, his former bandmates Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh have rubbed salt in the wound by replacing the singer/guitarist with a 23-year-old sound-alike (the titular Rome Ramirez) and releasing an album that capitalizes on the band’s position in the frat-rock pantheon – something Nowell never got to enjoy.
It’d be one thing if the new trio built on the band’s legacy. Instead, Yours Truly regurgitates Sublime’s 90s ska-punk blueprint and gussies it up with a new layer of radio-ready sheen. Only the dubstep-influenced iTunes bonus track Safe And Sound suggests where the band could go if they wanted to push their boundaries. It’s terrible, sure, but at least it’s not a retread.
Top track: Panic
