"Ixnay On The Hombre"
The Offspring (Columbia)

The Offspring's new release, "Ixnay on the Hombre," opens with a disclamer warning that the album's content may be shocking to some listeners.

The parental-guidance notice is tongue-in-cheek, because the Orange County, Calif., band has mined its success by mainstreaming punk for a mass audience.

"Ixnay" is the quartet's first release following the 1994 independant-label "Smash," which sold 8 1/2 million copies and included the No. 1 hit "Come Out and Play (You Gotta Keep 'em Separated)."

The new effort is more of the same for the mosh-pit crowd. The speedy riffs and pounding beats are inevitably catchy, especially "The Meaning of Life," "I Choose" and "All I Want," the album's first single.

Most of the lyrics resolve around misunderstood adolescents and their struggles. But given The Offspring's young core audience, it may not matter what the members of the group say but how they sing it.

By David Kligman, from The Associated Press