By Neal Pais

Daily Arts Writer

Them good old boys of mainstream punk are back again with yet another collection of catchy, off the wall ditties that are refreshingly devoid of sobriety. Unfortunately, most of the tracks on the album are also steeped in mediocrity and sound uncannily like the ones on The Offspring's last endeavor, Americana.

The Orange County quartet released Conspiracy of One in its entirety as MP3s back in September (which this writer endorsed/took full advantage of) amid efforts to back Napster and proclaim its dedication to serving its fans. These benevolent musicians followed in the generous, fan-committed ways of many of their punk rock peers, but Columbia, their new label, promptly had all of the tracks with the exception of the single "Original Prankster" officially yanked from the Net. Despite all of the online hoopla, however, Conspiracy of One has failed to generate much excitement.

Most critics will agree that the band reached its musical summit on its 1994 album Smash. A much more serious work with more traditional sounding punk anthems, Smash came to epitomize mainstream punk. The collection was most certainly the band's breakthrough album, yet since then The Offspring have made their move towards a merrier yet more mediocre brand of punk.

A few of the songs on the album are entertaining in a shallow sort of way: "Original Prankster" and "One Fine Day" exude the band's now trademark happy-go-lucky sound while "Vultures" and "Living in Chaos" concentrates on showcasing The Offspring's decent guitar work. Most of the other tracks simply disappear in a sea of repeated noise. Frontman Dexter Holland's voice continually carries across the album's dozen tracks as an unusually static whine; his humorous tone is perhaps the only salvaging aspects of Conspiracy of One. The future of this established group may be uncertain as long as it puts forth this type of music. If these rockers want to remain aristocrats in the realm of punk, it might be in their best interests to stop clowning around and revert to the classic tunes that once defined them as a quality punk act.

Grade: C+