Sublime With Rome – “Sirens” [Album Review]

Sublime have been around since 1988 and have gained themselves a strong, loyal following of fans due to their unique style mixing ska-punk, hip-hop, dub and reggae. Sadly the band did not gain serious global recognition until their 1996 self-titled album Sublime, which was released two months after the sad death of front man Bradley Nowell following a heroin overdose. Following his tragic death, bandmates Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh chose to call it a day and began working on other projects including the Long Beach Dub All Stars.

Sublime eventually reformed in 2009 to the delight of fans with their new frontman Rome Ramirez. Shortly after their reunion a lawsuit was filled by Nowell’s estate over the use of the name Sublime, as a result they became their current incarnation of Sublime With Rome. For Ramirez, filling the shoes of Nowell was clearly not going to be an easy task, however, he has successfully won over fans by paying tribute to Nowell’s legacy rather then becoming a replacement. Their second album under their current persona Sirens has stayed true to the original vision of what Sublime was meaning fans will be left far from disappointed. The album opens with ‘Sirens’ which features the hip-hop stylings of Dirty Heads which not only had me fall instantly in love with the album but had me panic that the rest of the album might be awful!

Luckily this revelation was premature as ‘Sirens’ was followed by one of my new favorite tracks, ‘Wherever You Go’, a wonderfully chilled out song with hints of dub and reggae, a tune that can instantly lift you up when you’re down and take you straight to your happy place. Sirens continue this style with ‘Brazillia’ a song about the bands view on good times in Brazil. Next on this line-up of fine songs is my second favorite song on the album ‘House Party’ which, as I’m sure you can guess, is all about antics that can take place at house parties. It just goes on getting better and better and I could easily say something about every tune on this fine album or identify other stand out tracks surfice to say that the whole album is just simply fantastic from start to finish.

It’s an easy statement for me to make here but Sirens is now in the running for my top album this year. If you consider yourself a fan of the band or if you’ve even just heard of Sublime you need this album in your life!

Track Listing:

01. Sirens (feat. Dirty Heads)
02. Wherever You Go
03. Brazillia
04. House Party
05. Been Losing Sleep
06. Promise Land Dubb
07. Best Of Me
08. Put Down Your Weapon
09. Run And Hide
10. Skankin
11. Gasoline

Running Time: 34:00
Release Date: 17 July, 2105

Check out the video for ‘Sirens’ here.