Genres: Melodic Hardcore, Pop Punk, Skate Punk. The lasting power of this record, and likely what makes it so particularly great in the first place is the variety it offers. That said, it’s still amazing just how great their first album came out. Recommended Tracks: Bring Out Your Dead, Somnombulance, and Rottin’ Apple. The band took an artistic leap forward with the 1996 follow-up, Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues, an album whose rapid-fire playing began to build a following among fans of new-school pop-punk. So, for this ranking, think of it more as “least best” to “most best”, rather than just worst to best. I would say unquestionably that Strung Out is one of my all time favourite bands and because of that, this ranking was particularly difficult as it sounds wrong to ever place “worst” next to any of their albums. It’s probably the glossiest, most overproduced of any Strung Out record and it contains arguably the poppiest songs of their catalogue (“Party in the Hills”, “Dirty Little Secret”, and “All the Nations”). Their style has been inspiring artists since the 90s and continues to inspire future bands by challenging them to rethink the technical landscape of what is considered “punk” music. Disclaimer: These rankings are not definitive and are largely based around my own personal opinion. The band's fifth full-length, Exile in Oblivion, was produced by Matt Hyde (Slayer) and issued in November 2004. About Strung Out. Everything comes out sounding so extremely clear without ever feeling overproduced. Produced by Cameron Webb, Agents was just their second album to chart within the Billboard 200. Luckily, the song does have a great bridge that pays homage to 80s metal, which somewhat makes up for them copy-and-pasting themselves. Strung Out has played a particularly important role in my own musical life as they were one of the bands to really introduce me to the punk scene, and their musicality encouraged me to learn to play the guitar to try and replicate their intricate playing style. Strung Out’s 3rd album is their most raw and aggressive — the last album with bassist Jim Cherry, and also the one where his signature style is most notable and present throughout. As time has passed, Strung Out have gone from a typical NOFX-clone band, complete with tight harmonies and blazing chords to a slower band pushing into Weezer-like Power Pop. The band was originally formed in 1989 by Jason Cruz (vocals), Rob Ramos (guitar), Jake Kiley (guitar), Jim Cherry (bass), and Adam Austin (drums). I’ll often find myself listening to their new albums and foolishly think that their older material certainly couldn’t standup to their present musical tenacity and the growth they were able to find, but this record proves me wrong time and time again. For their ninth set, Strung Out veered back to their hardcore roots, delivering the intense, politically-driven Songs of Armor and Devotion in 2019. Did the CIA’s Experiments With Psychedelic Drugs Unwittingly Create the Grateful Dead? So what does this new record do well? This record is compelling, infectious, and often groundbreaking in its approach — providing a journey for the listener from start to finish. Find the latest tracks, albums, and images from Strung Out. 7: Harder, Fatter + Louder. Best Tracks: Savant, Razorblade, and Mission To Mars, The Levels Of Difficulty With Which I’ve Listened To Music, To Die in an Orgasm of Sound: Alexander Scriabin’s Symphonic Works. It’s a particularly late career standout album and it just slightly misses the mark of being in the top 3 albums. Unfortunately, Zero Down only released one album due to the untimely death of Cherry in 2002 from a congenital heart condition. That, coupled with some of the band’s most passionate and carefully penned lyrics really helps to keep this record standing up tall throughout the tests of time. The percussion on this album particularly stands out with some of the band’s most iconic and signature fills spread throughout. As time has passed, Strung Out have gone from a typical NOFX-clone band, complete with tight harmonies and blazing chords to a slower band pushing into Weezer-like Power Pop. These qualities could also be the exact reason why it’s such a favourite among the fanbase. Recommended Tracks: Population Control, In Harm’s Way, and Ashes. Part of the family tree of melodic hardcore acts that started with Bad Religion and NOFX, Simi Valley’s journeymen punks Strung Out still play metal-infused punk that sends legions of snow and skate-boarders off of cliffs and ramps year after year. This album was also remastered in 2014 and I would recommend the remastered version as it adds a noticeable depth and strength to record’s overall sound. napster.com requires JavaScript. Listen to music from Strung Out. This sound limits the band from ever coming across as 100% on the record, giving the songs a muddy(ish) vibe. Strung Out celebrated their 20th anniversary in 2009 with the release of the rarity/B-side set Prototypes and Painkillers and Agents of the Underground, their seventh full-length. Strung Out is an American punk rock band from Simi Valley, California, formed in 1989. The biggest question for me coming into this record was how RJ Shankle would fit in to Jordan Burns lofty shadow, a drummer well known for his extreme skill behind the drums. A group that was able to establish their very own unique signature sound in the early 1990s while still being able to show growth and maturity up into the present. As the record flows by, there’s a feeling of gaining access to some sort of secret society, with this album being the soundtrack to it — this particular feeling is most expressed on tracks like “Cult of the Subterranean” and “Unkoil”, but even from the first few seconds of opening track “Velvet Alley”, the listener can begin to experience the atmosphere that the album constructs.