Still I cannot agree with the band info that calls it “their masterpiece”. If any that would have been “exit english” but I’d like to think their very best work is still to come. Maybe what the writer of the info wanted to express is that this record is far more worked out than everything the band did before. It took them three years to write it and you really hear this in the beautiful guitars and the vocals that are in musical terms better than ever.

However all the detailed work has somehow taken something of the band’s directness and explosiveness. The lyrics are good and the liner notes are even better. The songs’ recipe hasn’t changed too much. The melodies are still fine, the oooohs and aaaahs are sweet as always and with thirty minutes the album isn’t too long either. It just has a little less power than their previous work. The band might not have lost their hope but they’ve taken back their anger a little and replaced it by thinking a little more. That is perfectly fine. Thinking is good and anger alone don’t mean a shit but… ah, fuck it. The record is fucking great but just not as great as the last one in my eyes. Guess you can’t write classics all the time…

ps: “I’ll walk this wasteland with you and it’s the least I can do” is a really huge line! Big bear hugs for that one!  [jan]

http://myspace.com/strikeanywhere