The landscape of 1990s music tragedies was strewn with the additional poignancy of children too young to remember their fallen fathers. Nico Blue Hoon: 13 weeks old. Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence: 16 months. Frances Bean Cobain: 20 months. Still, the loss of Bradley Nowell hit us hard. His son Jakob Nowell was exactly 11 months old when the Sublime frontman died. When we were newly discovering our own music tastes as young teenagers – still children ourselves – we played Pool Shark (Acoustic) endlessly, transfixed by the prescient lyric “one day I’m gonna lose the war.”
Following early regional success encouraged by heavy play on legendary Californian radio station KROQ and across college radio, the band’s popularity really took off when Universal released their self-titled album in 1996, two months after Nowell’s death. It went 5x Platinum. Then, starting in 2000, the band gained new relevance with prominent soundtrack placements on several influential Dave Mirra BMX and Tony Hawk skate video games, followed by various music, dance, and sports games (including NBA 2K26 as recently as 2025).
From 2009, Sublime fans were able to experience the songs reimagined as performed by Sublime with Rome, a ‘spinoff’ band that started and ended with legal intervention. That iteration drew to a close after founding Sublime members Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh performed a benefit show with Jakob Nowell, then 28, and realised they shared a special connection and a very familiar sound. What’s a word that means chilling or haunting but in a good way? Oh yeah, it’s sublime.
“The chemistry and the sound — it was all there. It really brought me back to the mid-Nineties with Brad.”
Now permitted to perform as Sublime, the trio are celebrating the 30th anniversary of that iconic eponymous album by touring together via their own touring festival and on their very own cruise to the Bahamas! This Sublime recently performed in the UK for the first (and hopefully not last) time at Slam Dunk Festival. The footage shows a revitalised band with a beautifully familiar sound. The Grammy Museum understands the significance of the band and the anniversary too. From March 27 to September 7, 2026, they’re running an exhibit called Sublime: Straight From Long Beach.
It’s not just about nostalgia, though. New Sublime’s original single Ensenada broke the record for the longest run at number one on alternative radio in 2025, spending eight consecutive weeks at the top of Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart.
So, Sublime are back, but are they still qualified to represent the LBC? Let’s find out!
Album review: Sublime – ‘Until The Sun Explodes’ (2026)
Will it sound like Sublime? Never before have fears been dispelled so quickly. It is SO Sublime. Ska upstrokes, sonic references to What I Got, samples, Chicano street Spanish, and even the un-PC bravado and machismo of the original: “I don’t wanna be your man no more/I wanna make love to a whore….If I was a motherfucking president, I’d hire 20 strippers for my Cabinet.”
But here’s what I really want to know (oh baby) – what does Jakob Nowell sound like? Damn, if he doesn’t sound EXACTLY like his Dad. Those early live recordings gave some indication, but this is uncanny.
Turns out that wasn’t just a one-off. The whole record matches the DNA of classic Sublime exactly. Seriously, we’ve seen professional tribute bands that haven’t got as close to their mark as these guys do, even though these are original songs. This was no accident. Jakob explained to Create Music Group that “we have a book. We [Jakob, producer Jon Joseph and touring guitarist Zayno from Jakob’s band Jakob’s Castle] call it the Skin Bible…we check to see if things are canonical and authentic…We kept this big Venn diagram, too, on the wall of all of the differing influences and how we wanted to stay in the middle…And so that way, if we ever want to do something that was slightly outside of it, it was very conscious and intentional.”
“You can’t out-legacy. You can’t out-myth, the original myth. So we just wanted to create a bunch of songs that were well within the same sound genre.”
– Jakob Nowell
So, no, you’re not imagining it if you think that count off in Wizard sounds familiar, or that reference to the back of the bar. Sublime wants you to remember Sublime. Date Rape, in this case.
And so it goes. if you like Pool Shark (Acoustic), then Can’t Miss You is in the one for you. Although there’s a bait and switch before you get too comfortable, so watch out! We segue into a chilled ska groove resembling parts of STP. In fact, listening to this album is excellent brain training for Sublime fans, similar to the constant ‘Ooh, I know that one!’ calculations you go through when you see Nile Rodgers live and try to guess the song/band before the vocal starts.
Backwards (featuring FIDLAR) has got to be consciously designed to control the live crowd, requiring them to switch between skanking and a circle pit on a dime. No subject is off limit; this one’s about “tweaking ’til my brains blow…I’ll be this way until I die because I’m always going backwards.”
Maybe Partying Will Help…Pt. 1 (and later Pt. 2) reintroduces us to Robbin’ The Hood’s propensity for spoken word samples, pauses, and an indirect reference to still-cherished band mascot Dalmatian Lou Dog.
That was a palate cleanser before Favorite Song (featuring Skeggs), a chilled shrug of the shoulders. The vibe is blissed but the message isn’t. In a world where music is so important, “all my favorite songs sound like shit to me” means that something is very wrong. The rap explains more: “I’m not the man I thought I’d be, but I am the man I am/help me, come help me, help me but you can’t because there’s nothing else you can tell me.” We’re back to questions of fate, inevitability and future (or lack of).
Personal Hell is a story song in the vein of Ebin “if he got away with murder, did he murder at all?” So is F.T.R. – another narrative of the sun-soaked underworld. It’s much more subdued (mostly) in sound but danger is ever present: “he got a good, good feeling when he shot the man down/now he’s the one the television’s talking about…if you blink twice when you’re at his spot, he’ll be trading your watch at the donut shop.”
Evil Men takes us to another type of Sublime song, with a signature-sound processed a capella vocal leading into the kind of song you kind of don’t want to condone but it’s a banger, much like Wrong Way. “You know I love you so much better than you hate your dad/’cuz I only like the girls that have got problems with their fathers/I know there’s nothing better than those angry little daughters/gets me so hot.” Much like Date Rape, there’s some element of eventual comeuppance (“evil men is what we glorify…I’ll go until I get the punishment that I deserve”) but there’s the still risk of falling somewhere between trivialising and romanticising when we consistently foreground the aggressor’s perspective, even if it’s with nuance that other bands don’t bother with.
Trey’s Song (featuring H.R. of Bad Brains) gives a nice full circle moment – it was a benefit for H.R. that brought Nowell, Wilson and Gaugh together as this iteration of Sublime.
Casino Toarmina proves that Jakob can sing sing, just like his Dad. It’s simple, gorgeous and steeped in regret: “I know it sounds crazy but I can’t take you home tonight/I don’t know if I’ll ever be in love again.”
The Problem With That Is It Makes Me Stoked is another vignette reset. More reverb, more upstrokes and more self-referential vocal samples: “I believe that Sublime is the greatest band of all time. I’m ready to die on that balcony, you know what I’m saying…Sublime is a good time, man.” Yep, we do know what he’s saying. Sublime is a good time.
Gangstalker shows Jakob perfecting that Nowell growling vocal and lyrical paranoia: “patterns that I recognise get harder to ignore/there is government plates on that van parked right outside my door.”
The production is clear and precise on Figueroa, sizzling and stalking with bounce and beat. It’s something of a retelling of the Wrong Way dynamic but with less sensationalism and more context: “how can she really walk away from making 1,500 every day?…Tell me truly, baby, do you want to quit your job…telling me I’m not her only man.” The breakdown balances bravado and compensatory posturing: “I never get charged when I hop that date because I know how to make ladies feel great…I got so many I do not want to stop.”
Froggy shows how the Skin Bible really worked. It’s perhaps a throwaway song on an already lengthy album but, still, even individual notes are redolent with Sublimeness. If you loved and lived the back catalogue, you’re practically playing a different song in your head while taking the new one in.
Come Correct has visceral low end work to underpin G-Love’s rap, and Jakob’s own lyrical prowess: “please be my Mary Shelley, I will be your Lord Byron.”
What For is a flippant song that exists as much to cycle through the tempos and to raise a smile: “I don’t really love you and it’s only Monday…I meant to tell you all this last weekend/I don’t really love you as much as Fluffy…I meant to tell you all this on your birthday.”
We’ve already had a ‘one time, two time, three time’ shoutout but now it’s time for a closer reference to 5446 That’s My Number/Ball And Chain with the new song 247-369 (featuring Dragee).
The title track, Until The Sun Explodes, seem set for feature single status. The delivery of “I only hope that you know I owe you my life” hits sincere before the Sublimeocity kicks in proper; more reverb, more lyrical recalls. There’s no hiding who Jakob is singing to, though, sometimes in his own voice alongside his chef’s kiss mimic of his father’s sound: “Why should I feel so close to you when you are so far?/At night I dream when I got home I heard your voice on the telephone and when I woke up I was all alone.”
Other than a redux of the Thanx dub in Thanx Again (with a moment of respect for Bradley, as if the whole album didn’t serve that purpose), Until The Sun Explodes fundamentally ends the record and lays out the emotional weight that’s palpable throughout: “Went to the spots you used to go/I hear you coming through the radio/it’s always at the strangest moments/it’s almost like you know.”
We can only hope that the forensic examination of Bradley’s output and legacy needed for this project was cathartic, because it has to have been heartbreaking too. After all, Jakob’s never known any other way to relate to Bradley Nowell than through his songs and his impact. Now consciously inhabiting that role publicly and inviting comparisons, it’s got to be tough.
“It’s all for him. I wouldn’t be here doing this if not for him. And I’d prefer it would be him doing it.”
– Jakob Nowell
You know how there’s no point in listening to another Less Than Jake song if you didn’t like the first one you hear? Likewise, if you never really ‘got’ Sublime, then this record isn’t for you. If you did, and you do, then this is — quite literally — made for you. The diverse yet cohesive mix of reggae, ska-punk, alternative, rock and dub influences still works well, and it’s homaged flawlessly. In fact, it works far better than it has any right to. After we finished listening to old-school Sublime albums in order (as we are now compelled to do), we’ll listen to this again. It’s an essential addition to your Sublime collection, designed to fit in with and honour the originals. It’s not pastiche, it’s not a cash grab. It’s fan service in the most honourable way, and it’s authentically earned its place in the Sublime catalogue.
“Sublime music’s so irreverent, but you have to revere Sublime’s music to be able to make it.”
– Jakob Nowell
Sublime: ‘Until The Sun Explodes’ tracklisting
- Ensenada
- Wizard
- Can’t Miss You
- Backwards (feat. FIDLAR)
- Maybe Partying Will Help…Pt. 1
- Favorite Songs (feat. Skegss)
- Personal Hell
- F.T.R.
- Evil Men
- Trey’s Song (feat. H.R. of Bad Brains)
- Casino Taormina
- The Problem With That Is It Makes Me Stoked
- Gangstalker
- Figueroa
- Froggy
- Come Correct (feat. G. Love)
- What For
- 247-369 (feat. Fletcher Dragge of Pennywise)
- Maybe Partying Will Help…Pt. 2
- Until The Sun Explodes
- Thanx Again
Until The Sun Explodes by Sublime is out on Atlantic Records on June 12, 2026.
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