Grumpster Grumpster LP

Eight years into their career, it was an easy decision for Bay Area punks GRUMPSTER to self-title their third album. "It feels like we're being reincarnated," beams bassist and vocalist Donnie Walsh gleefully.

Produced by Brett Romnes (Hot Mulligan, The Front Bottoms), GRUMPSTER is the sound of a once-green act coming into their own as players and writers – as the now-quartet use their sweat-soaked punk rock flame not to set their past ablaze, but bravely light the path ahead. Hernandez's gruff vocals on tracks like "Bottom Feeder" and "Just For Fun" offer a grittier counter to Walsh's more saccharine delivery, while new textures, tones, and grooves expand the band's sonic playbook into post-grunge ("Grey"), fuzzed-out alternative ("Bern Needs His Meds") and 6/8 surf rock ("SSBpt2") without losing the passion fans have come to expect.

"I'd say this album is about general suffering," Walsh says with a laugh. "Being alive is suffering sometimes. Compared to Fever Dream, I wanted to be more transparent and honest in terms of the lyrics; no metaphors or anything like that. I'm over songwriting that's trying to be clever. If I were to stumble upon this album as a listener, I'd know exactly what the songs were saying and take a lot from it – because it really do be like that sometimes.