After falling off the face of music with an 11-year hiatus, the quartet No Doubt nudged their way back into the contemporary pop scene with their newest album, "Push and Shove," released Tuesday.
The album features a mixture of genres drizzled with No Doubt's love for being erratic. The album is a sweaty, fist-pumping, head-nodding tribute that disappointingly adheres too blandly to the times.
No Doubt has always been known for their bizarre rule breaking and uncategorized sound. Unfortunately "Push and Shove" jumps on the recent success of the current generation's dance mix bandwagon, wheeling in a living and breathing re-creation of dubstep.
Fortunately, it is at least a top-notch re-enactment. The horns are crisp, the guitars clean, and Stefani's voice brightly percolates through the bass' heavy tracks. All that aside, No Doubt's "Push and Shove" certainly can't be criticized as being mundane.
The band takes the listener through an adrenaline throttling race that speeds into dance and pop, downshifts into ska and reggaeton and then pumps the brakes for one country-influenced track that emulates the Dixie Chicks.
Despite their approach, the archetypal No Doubt can sporadically be heard throughout a few songs of the album. Although faint, conventional No Doubt listeners will acknowledge their old style in "Gravity," "Sparkle" and "Dreaming the Same Dream."
On the whole, the album doesn't disappoint when contrasted with the present-day artists. What isn't expected from a 25-year-old band: they've seemingly gotten younger. Still, the band managed to create a spunky record that's filled with life. There is no doubt that "Push and Shove" will pump out a slew of hit singles that will overtake the charts.
The Setonian gives this album 3 out of 5 stars.
Benjamin Rader can be reached at benjamin.rader@student.shu. edu.
