NOFX’s latest album Coaster is their 12th studio release and their latest on Fat Wreck Chords and is a re-establishment of what made the band so popular that they have been able to put out music for 25 years now. However, there are signs of a slightly more mature NOFX and it doesn’t take away from NOFX’s signature style which can be described as a goofier version of Bad Religion in the way that Fat Mike takes on subject like politics and religiousness with a very sardonic view.

Coaster also has the most personal song Fat Mike has ever written, “My Orphan Year” when he conveys his feelings over losing both of his parents in the same year. Besides that song, there’s an absolutely hilarious recollection of Fat Mike creeping out Tegan or Sara of Tegan & Sara at some Euro music festival called “Creeping Out Sara”. The band also touches upon religious hypocrisy in the songs “Blasphemy (The Victimless Crime)” and “Best God In Show”.  There’s also songs like ‘The Quitter”, “First Call” and “I AM an Alcoholic” which, like most NOFX songs, extol on the qualities, both good and bad, of drug and alcohol use. The only real throwaway track on the album is the ode to Iron Maiden “Eddie, Bruce and Paul”.

Sound-wise, NOFX sticks to what works best for them which is a blend of sped-up West Coast punk with a healthy blend of ska & reggae to make things more interesting. On the whole, Coaster is not a album where NOFX branches out into newer territory but yet another solid album where they stick to their lyrical and sonic guns and prove why they are still after two and half decades. ****