Strung Out – Exile in Oblivion

Strung Out have been writing, creating and releasing melodic punk songs for the past twelve years. They’ve released four studio albums, a few 7’s, a couple EPs, and were the fourth band in Fat Wreck Chords‘ popular Live In A Dive series; now the southern Californian band is back with their fifth full length, Exile In Oblivion, and with this, the band is ready to show the world that still know how to rock.

There isn’t one standout song on the CD that you play over and over again, but instead features fourteen solid songs that you could play anytime. The melodic fast paced early 90s punk rock tunes are topped off my Jason Cruz’s smooth and strong vocals. Rob Ramos, one of the two guitarists, and Chris Aiken, the bassist, also lend their vocal talents to the mix, helping create catching vocal harmonies which grab your attention immediately. I will be honest with you though, there are some songs on here which seem to blend together. There isn’t that much of a variety between song to song, which does diminish the enjoyment factor of the CD at times, but it is still a solid album. The more you listen to it, the more you pick out and the more you appreciate the little things that make the album great. The vocal harmony here, the lyric there, the guitar breakdown during that certain song, after a few listens you start hearing the little things, and you are blown away.

Is this a must-have album? I’ll say no. There are a lot of albums which are better then Exile In Oblivion, but it still does carry some characteristics which make it standout. Their classic early 90s punk sound will definitely appeal to fans of the band’s previous work and fans of bands like A Wilhelm Scream. They don’t tread much new ground with this album, nor do they give a kick of originality into the scene, what they do is give a strong, solid album of punk rock tunes which is sure to grab anyone’s interest for a least a bit.