Lagwagon's return to form

You know how you have all those bands that you used to like? And they keep putting out new albums, and they're kind of OK, but they just don't really seem to care that much any more?

Well, Lagwagon used to fall into this category for me, but they reversed the trend with their latest, "Resolve". If you know anything about Lagwagon, you'll know that they used to be super-fast punk-metal and the first two albums were probably some of the best things ever.

Their third record "Hoss" was alright, but a change was in the air. After that, I thought they completely lost it, and I was diassapointed because I was a huge fan of their earlier stuff. I was even lucky enough to see them on the "Trashed" tour way back in about '94 at the Republik.

So they had fallen into the nostalgia category, and I'd dig out their discs once in a while to remember the good old days, but when I heard the song "Heartbreaking Music" from the newest album I was surprised. It sounded like old Lagwagon!

When I started to read up on the album, I got the sad news. Derrick Plourde, the original drummer committed suicide before the recording of the album, inspiring all the songs to be written in only two weeks. It's a fitting tribute.

The lyrics are heartfelt and sometimes heart-wrenching and the music is a throwback to the days when Derrick was the man behind the kit. I'm a little late with this review, as it came out in '05, but I wanted to write about it anyway.

To hear some samples, you can head over to Lagwagon's MySpace page or order it at Fat Wreck Chords. The version you see above is my copy, luckily I ordered early enough to get one of the 220 green vinyl copies.