Some punks, when they get older, turn to softer music to express themselves, opting for the path of the solo troubadour over the incessant touring and physical exertion of playing hardcore jams to packed, tiny venues every night. Others renege on their formerly-held ideals, signing deals with major labels and metamorphosing into the kind of arena rawk they once loathed and jeered at.
And then you have BOB MOULD.
Mould has done it all – he was the frontman of seminal Minneapolis-St. Paul 80s hardcore band (and true progenitor of the “punk rock opera”) HÜSKER DÜ, played guitar and sang with early alt-rockers SUGAR, became an electronica/dance music producer in the late 1990s, wrote scripts for World Championship Wrestling and a memoir, called See a Little Light: The Trail of Rage and Melody, in 2011.
Throughout all of that, Mould was constantly adding to his solo discography. His last album, Life and Times, was a straightfoward rock album mostly positively received by critics (save for the New Musical Express, who called it “unchallenging pap”). With Silver Age, Mould seems to be steering himself back into the direction of Americana-influenced punk rock.
This 11-track album, out on Merge Records, is exactly how I would imagine a modern-day HÜSKER DÜ album would sound, given all of the benefits of better production. Songs like “Keep Believing,” the title track, and “Briefest Moment” veer directly into melodic hardcore territory, proving that even after 30-plus years of making music, Mould can still make a raging tune with the best.
Silver Age has its slower moments as well, such as on the Foo Fighters-esque song “First Time Joy,” and it is in these instances that you really get a sense for just how much of an influence Mould has had on alternative rock, and vice-versa.
Mould has managed create a listenable, relevant album where many of his contemporaries have fallen short, and for most this would be enough; but Silver Age also manages to be better than work produced by younger artists this year (Gaslight Anthem, I’m looking at you). Amidst a field of musicians creating amazing work in the punk/alternative milieu in 2012, Silver Age is aiming for the top of the pile.
9.5/10
Artist: BOB MOULD
Album: Silver Age
Label: Merge Records
Year: 2012