Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace Review

Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace is the confirmed title for The Offspring's upcoming eighth studio album, which is set to be released on June 16, 2008 in Europe and a day later in the United States. This will be the band's first full-length studio release in four and a half years, the longest gap between The Offspring's studio albums to date. Its release had been delayed several times since frontman Dexter Holland first announced the album in 2004.

Writing and recording sessions for this album lasted for almost two years, making it the longest time The Offspring have ever spent working on an album. Although drummer Atom Willard (who left in July 2007) was still a member of the band during the recording, session musician Josh Freese actually handled the drum tracks, like he did on the previous album Splinter. Due to contract issues, Willard was not supposed to do recording on the album, and Face to Face drummer Pete Parada joined the band just in time for the tour.

Holland first mentioned the follow-up to Splinter in 2004. "People think of greatest hits like, 'Oh, does that mean you're going into acting?'" he says, referring to the compilation album that came out in 2005. "But I really want to put out another record next year. All the new songs feel pretty good."

On February 7, 2006, Holland said in his journal that the band entered a demo studio to work on guitar tracks. "Well what's up this week? We went back in the demo studio last weekend, just Noodles and I, doing some guitar tracks. It was a blast. It feels good to get back in the studio and do some recording and just be a band, you know? I'm sure you do if you're in a band. We knocked off early because it was Noodles' birthday (remember?) and he had some ragin' to do. People are asking us about possibly doing some festivals in Europe this summer, which would be fun, but we thought it would be better to stay home and work on songs for another record. What do you think?"

On February 15, 2006, Holland said in his journal that he went out of town to "meet with a guy who might produce" The Offspring's new album. "Last week I went out of town to meet with a guy who might produce our next record. I thought it went really well. Right now we‘re just kind of in that mode of figuring out what the next record is gonna be like, and writing songs. Why don‘t you guys write in and tell us what you think?"

On June 13, 2006, Holland stated that the band (minus Willard) had been meeting every week and would begin recording shortly. He also confirmed that Willard had not officially left the band and was only on tour with Angels & Airwaves.

On August 18, 2006, Holland updated the band's journal, saying that they had demoed 5 songs and were looking to go into the studio soon. He described the new songs as "lots of guitar, energy, lots of energy, and good songs." and "I think it's the best stuff we've done in a long time."

In September 2006, it was announced that the album would be produced by producer Bob Rock of Metallica fame. He said that he was working with Holland and "helping him sort out songs."

Recording for Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace began in November 2006, with an intended release date of spring 2007. Recording took place in Hawaii and California with producer Bob Rock. By May 2007 the music for thirteen songs had been recorded, with a further 10 tracks demoed. At this time Dexter announced that all of the songs were completely new with no re-recordings of older songs, jokingly remarking "that would be cheating, wouldn't it?" and commenting that the new tracks "sound like a friggin' freight train."

In July 2007, Dexter also confirmed that the band had finished "two more songs" and the album was being recorded in Orange County, California. On the Christmas journal entry, he claimed that he had two more lyrics to write, "a couple more" to sing and "various tweaks" to do before mixing could begin. The band was at that time taking a break to spend Christmas with their families.

In the new year, the band comically responded to upset fans who wanted news by having a "breaking news" story regarding the band buying plane tickets for their next show. In his journal, Dexter explained that when there were no updates, it's usually because there's nothing to talk about- hence the faux "news." The next month, Dexter told Bombshellzine.com that The Offspring were "just in the studio getting some tracks down for the new record" and claims "it's a lot louder than the last couple". He also said the band wasn't "going to be making another Smash, or another Ixnay" but thinks they are still "relevant to punk when they were created, and this one will be no different".

Dexter announced on April 9, 2008 that the new album was finished and announced the name and release date.