Twisted By Design,
Strung OutSomeone ought to tell Strung Out that you don't have to be good at playing guitar, or any other instrument for that matter, to be in a punk band... um actually scrap that. Yep it's a rarity, but 'SO' are one of those bands who are adept at technical stuff, and have used their knowledge well on 'Twisted by Design'.
'Too Close to See' demonstrates this perfectly. How long it took the drummer to become so accomplished is anybody's guess, but the speed of drumming here is incredible, as is the change in sequences and drum rolls he manages to squeeze into minimal amounts of time. Add to this fast picking of the likes you probably haven't heard before, and you'll start to realise this is head and shoulders above what is now commonly termed 'pop punk'. Let's put it this way, I won't be attempting the solo in this song for about, what, 10 years when I have a big beard and have been on several world tours. Even then i'll probably have to take lessons. But anyway, back to the song, and you'll soon find the quality of the lyrics eclipses most of your CD collection - 'sometimes you get too close to see a different side of what life can be'.
After comes 'Exhumation of Virginia Madison', which slows down the proceedings slightly by changing the rhythm intermittently, followed by the slightly less inspiring 'Deville' amd 'Mind of my own'. 'Reason too believe' takes on a far darker, hardcore type tone which seems slightly out of place yet still contrasts nicely with 'Crossroads' which reverts back to the formula seen earlier on the album, and in previously released 'Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues'. 'Paperwalls' is another classic and contains within it Strung Out's trademark slowing of the rhytm, only to be picked up towards the end and carried out with supreme style (also evident in 'Match Book', but we'll come to that in a bit.)
'Ice burn' is a hate filled intermission showing the dark side of 'SO', but as soon as King Alvarez starts up you realise the band takes pleasure in switching between the two, almost catching the listener off guard, concreted by the next in the sequence 'Asking for the world' - 'I feel like i've been through so much shit, something's fucked in our relationship, so I don't know what to feel anymore', finishing modestly and showing it is possible to write songs about girls which aren't brain lyrically - unlike some bands I could mention, but won't... :-)
The last three songs here maintain the quality shown through the rest of the album, 'Tattoo' and 'Just like me' both sound amazing, and we come to the last song, 'Match Book', which is possibly my favourite Strung out song full stop - 'Don't look back in anger, now that's all that you can see, cos anger's all i've got to keep me warm when you're away' - a long track which incorporates a ska type guitar half way through, but just when you thought things were going to slow down permanently, Strung Out pull another cat out of the bag and provide us with a minute long outro which, quite frankly rocks and should be played at full volume.
I regret to say that when I bought this CD, it sat on my shelf for a couple of months completely untouched. Fuck knows why. Why is it sitting in the record shop when it could be sitting in the palm of your hand? good question. My only qualm is that the band detuned their guitars to play this masterpiece, which is bitch when you want to try and learn it. Oh well, only 9 years and 364 days to go...
nick
» Buy On Amazon
