After releasing what could be described as two of the best skate punk albums in recent years, the last thing most would have expected from Strung Out is to change what clearly was a winning formula. This 8 track mini album does really blow the band away from any previous releases in terms of style; TEOSD wears the bands metal influences on its sleeve more than any of other releases. It’s certainly a lot heavier and much more experimental than anything else I’ve ever heard on Fat Wreck and well, if anyone could pull it off it would be Strung Out.
A fan of the band hearing this CD for the first time would get a shock when opening track ‘Mission to mars’ kicks in, especially if they were expecting it to be a continuation from Twisted by Design. It’s a pretty damn heavy track, slightly dischorded at times with some weird ass intergalactic robot noises going on behind everything but what blows me away not only on this track but the whole CD is the intensity of the drumming, its sounds like a pneumatic drill ravaging your skull with a desire to kill but somehow it’s pulled off without sounding too over the top. Track number two, ‘Scarecrow’ is a little easier to cope with but still it’s fundamentally different from any previous material with only Jason’s voice making it distinguishable as Strung Out. Things get a bit experimental again for ‘Savant’, I really think they named this release well as it does sound sonically defying well in proportion to what you’d expect from you’re average skate punk album. The artwork also really compliments the music well, not really majorly significant to anything but a nice touch all the same.
‘Blew’ is the slowest and generally less energetic on the release, there’s an effect on Jason’s voice in the verse which sets it back in the mix a bit but it works really well with the spacey sounding guitar lines. ‘Everyday’ sounds like an older Strung Out track with its typical speedy skate punk rhythm and melodic vocal lines until the chorus hits you by throwing in an aggressive metal influence, (something which is put to good use on the next album ‘American Paradox’) and after a trade mark SO guitar solo the pace drops dramatically and things fade out in a nice mellow manner. ‘Razorblade’ is one of the best SO tracks ever, its really unlike anything I’ve really heard a punk band play; the rhythm is fantastic, the guitars have an awesome sounding effect creating a moody atmosphere juxtaposing well with the vocals and Jordan’s drumming, well I can’t actually comprehend what he’s actually doing it’s that good. Oh, there are also a couple of killer key changes which are really natural and flowing.
‘Jackie-O’ is the most normal skate punk song on the release, but it’s far from being a bland, no brained mediocre affair, it just goes to show how diverse and how consistently good this band can write songs. The disc clocks in at just over 25 minutes long by finishing off with ‘Mephisto’, this track has rhythm changes aplenty and sounds a little random and disjointed structurally but it’s no dud track, just a strange choice to end the record with.
If you’re bored of listening to bog standard skate punk check this puppy out. It might take a little while to get in to as it did with me but it’s really is something different and although it could be interpreted as a tad pretentious and just plain weird at times it also shows how talented SO are and how diverse they can be. I’m still undecided as to whether it’s a modern masterpiece or not but one thing is for sure, it’s a very solid release.
www.strungout.com
Fat Wreck
Mike