Ranking Strung Out’s 9 Albums
What happens when you mix 90s melodic punk with metal technical prowess? In the best-case scenario, you get a band like Strung Out. 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. 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.
The band was originally formed in 1989 by Jason Cruz (vocals), Rob Ramos (guitar), Jake Kiley (guitar), Jim Cherry (bass), and Adam Austin (drums). While Cruz, Kiley, and Ramos have continued to be with the band throughout their existence, Adam Austin was only with the band in the very beginning as drummer extraordinaire Jordan Burns took over from him on all of their albums until being replaced by RJ Shankle for the newest record.
Jim Cherry also only remained with the band through their first 3 records, before being replaced by Chris Aiken. Cherry was an instrumental part of the band throughout their beginning years — writing some of their most popular songs during this time and giving the band a noticeably different style through the beginning 10-ish years. Cherry was also the driving force behind the band’s early success as he convinced Fat Mike to sign them to Fat Wreck Chords by promising to carpet his apartment. Besides Strung Out, Cherry also helped form fellow Californian punk band Pulley (with Burns) and eventually formed Zero Down, where he was not only a songwriter and guitarist but also the lead singer. Unfortunately, Zero Down only released one album due to the untimely death of Cherry in 2002 from a congenital heart condition.
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. 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. So, for this ranking, think of it more as “least best” to “most best”, rather than just worst to best.
As usual, the rankings were done after (re)listening to the albums several times over an approximate 2 month period. I have already listened to these albums countless times in the past but never tried to rank them against each other before. As far as I can tell, this is the best ranking I could come up with.
Disclaimer: These rankings are not definitive and are largely based on my own personal opinion. Please feel free to comment with your own rankings list.
9. Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues (1996)
Ranking this album at the 9th (worst) position means I will already get a lot of people disagreeing with this entire list. STWB is definitely a fan favourite among many and it contains several of the band’s most iconic songs (“Bring Out Your Dead” for example), but as a whole, it has always failed to grab my attention the same way the rest of their records have. It’s still Strung Out, so it certainly isn’t a bad album by any means and it doesn’t contain any bad songs per se, it’s simply that the majority of the songs come off as mediocre when stacked against the rest of their discography. There’s a lack of metal tenacity on STWB that permeates other albums of theirs — instead of focusing more on fast, straight-forward punk. This direction results in less memorable guitar riffs (sans “Bring Out Your Dead”) and vocals from Cruz that seem more rushed in delivery and less focused on melody. These qualities could also be the exact reason why it’s such a favourite among the fanbase. The center of the record is where it's most distinctly memorable and finds Strung Out bringing out most of their best qualities — resulting in a potentially higher ranking, but unfortunately, the rest of the tracks still drag it down to where it sits now.
In 2014 they released a remastered version that can be a bit hit-or-miss depending on your taste, but overall after several re-listens, I think I prefer the remastered version.
Recommended Tracks: Bring Out Your Dead, Somnombulance, and Rottin’ Apple
8. Another Day in Paradise (1994)
The debut album from Strung Out (and 3rd full length ever released on Fat) finds the band coming out the gate scorching hot with album opener “Population Control”, a song full of frenzied energy that was never quite matched on the successor STWB. This album sees the band finding their way into their signature sound and as such, contains a few tracks that lack their full potential. That said, it’s still amazing just how great their first album came out. I believe “In Harm’s Way” was the first Strung Out song I ever heard and right from that I became a fan, excitedly anticipating further releases and their growth as a band through the years. Possibly more surprising than how good the band was from the beginning, is how expertly Jordan Burns handled the drums from the get-go.
This album was also remastered in 2014 and I would recommend the remastered version as it adds a noticeable depth and strength to the record’s overall sound.
Recommended Tracks: Population Control, In Harm’s Way, and Ashes
7. Agents of the Underground (2009)
The biggest fault of Agents of the Underground is possibly its inability to really stand out amongst the rest of Strung Out’s catalogue. This could be for a number of reasons, but substandard songs are not one of them. I think that all of the songs on this record are great, but maybe a little too similar to each other to make them stand out individually. I’ve found the only truly memorable track for me is “Carcrashradio”, a song that's melody and style grab the listener immediately. The similarity amongst songs can be partially blamed on the songwriting, but I think it is more-so contingent on how the album was recorded and produced. The way the record was mixed sounds overall fine, but it really lacks the “punch” that their other records have. This sound limits the band from ever coming across as 100% on the record, giving the songs a muddy(ish) vibe. At 11 tracks, AotU also contains the fewest songs for a Strung Out record which factors into the album’s place in the ranking. Last, but not least… this album’s artwork is simply not good; the mirrored imagery coupled with copy-pasted objects gives it a particularly cheap photoshopped look that obviously hurts the overall product.
Recommended Tracks: Carcrashradio, Black Crosses, and The Fever and The Sound
6. Songs of Armor and Devotion (2019)
Like Agents of the Underground, this record was also produced by Cameron Webb so it unsurprisingly has a similar dynamic to that record, although the mix sounds slightly better this time around, particularly in regards to the crispness of the vocals and the lower bass tones. So what does this new record do well? Jason Cruz’s lyrics are overall pretty good and his vocals provide a new delivery, different than on previous albums, most notably on the first few lines of the opening track. You can tell he is putting a renewed strain on his voice that he hasn’t attempted before — perhaps due to age or perhaps a desire to add another level to Strung Out’s existing sound. The biggest question for me coming into this record was how RJ Shankle would fit into Jordan Burns lofty shadow, a drummer well known for his extreme skill behind the drums. After several listens, I can confidently say that Shackle does a solid job filling Burns’ shoes. The notable difference between the two is Burns’ drumming would often go its own path while still managing to work together with the structure of the song and Shackle’s drumming seems very focused on following along with the existing melody of the song — while still adding his own flair to strengthen the songs. One criticism I have for the record is with the song “White Girls”, which is a great song (maybe my favourite on the record), but its main intro guitar riff is almost exactly the same as “The Animal and the Machine” from Strung Out’s previous record. Luckily, the song does have a great bridge that pays homage to 80s metal, which somewhat makes up for them copy-and-pasting themselves. Another small gripe of mine is with the song “Daggers” because it starts to have a great breakdown after Cruz sings “Let’s go!” midway into the song, but then it ends after about 2 seconds — definitely a missed opportunity. Lastly, for some reason, they left off “Strange Notes”, one of the record’s best songs, from the vinyl version, which makes no sense to me.
Recommended Tracks: Daggers, Demons, and Rebels and Saints
5. Blackhawks Over Los Angeles (2007)
Blackhawks Over Los Angeles is a very polarizing album (except for the album cover, I think we can all agree it is terrible). 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”). At the same, it also contains some very heavy, metal-influenced songs like “Orchid” and “The King Has Left the Building”. Despite being produced by the same person that produced Exile in Oblivion it still has a very different and unique sound, most notably in the over-layering of Cruz’s vocals which often seems to take away from the more raw and passionate feel of other records in their catalog. There are some great takeaways like the Spanish guitar intro to the album and the fascinating guitar solos on the title track, but its weaker songs really made ranking the record as a whole very difficult. Ultimately I decided that the best tracks are particularly great and enough to elevate the album to 5th place.
Recommended Tracks: The King Has Left the Building, Downtown, and Blackhawks Over Los Angeles
4. Transmission.Alpha.Delta (2015)
This record may have my favourite production of any Strung Out album. Everything comes out sounding so extremely clear without ever feeling overproduced. The mix is just right to give every instrument a very definitive sound that compliments the vocals (that are also just right in the mix). As a whole, the album is one of the most cohesive of the Strung Out catalog. While I think the strongest parts of the record are in the beginning and end, the middle is no slouch either, offering solid tracks that help flow everything together while providing some interesting elements themselves, such as the Spanish guitar bridge on “Spanish Days”. One of my favourite moments of their entire record is the spectacular guitar line on the chorus of “Go It Alone”, in fact, the last 5 songs on the record are all standout and seem to really seamlessly blend together their earlier style with some of the more progressive elements they’ve experimented with in the past 10 years. It’s a particularly late-career standout album and it just slightly misses the mark of being in the top 3 albums.
Recommended Tracks: The Animal and The Machine, Magnolia, and Rats in the Walls
3. Exile In Oblivion (2004)
This record and the 2 below were incredibly hard to rank as they’re more or less equally tied as Strung Out’s best record, each for their own unique reasons. But, as this is a ranking, I will give my reasons for why I placed the albums in their respective positions.
Exile in Oblivion is the longest and, in my opinion, the most ambitious Strung Out album, and as such it’s the most difficult not to give the top ranking to. To put it simply, it misses the top mark almost completely due to the production of the snare and bass drum on the album. Everything else on the record sounds pretty extraordinary, but the bass drum sounds like a wet bag of potatoes being tossed on the ground and the snare comes across like a kid’s drum you would find in a supermarket, with almost no punch at all. Since the bass and snare are placed so high in the mix, it tends to be quite a distraction while listening to the record, so much so that if the band ever gets around to remastering this record, there’s a good chance that this would then become my inarguable favourite Strung Out record. As for the songs, each is so extremely complex that they find the band straining every ounce of creativity and musicianship into them. Regardless of what you like about Strung Out, there’s a good chance you will be able to find it on this record as it really puts everything on the table, exploring every possibility that the band may be able to accomplish, from extremely aggressive songs to the more melodic and thought-provoking. This record is compelling, infectious, and often groundbreaking in its approach — providing a journey for the listener from start to finish.
Recommended Tracks: Never Speak Again, Analog, and Her Name in Blood
2. Twisted By Design (1998)
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. The record itself has nearly everything you could want from early Strung Out. It is not only their most recognizable intro track (“Too Close To See”), but also their greatest outro song (“Matchbook”). Sandwiched in between these amazing songs is a smorgasbord of classic songs in their own right. Twisted by Design has angry, throw your fist in the air songs like “Reason To Believe”, “Ice Burn”, and “Just Like Me”. It’s got uptempo, almost happy and songs in “Deville” and “King Alvarez”. It gets anthemic in fan favourite “Mind of My Own” while slowing down for burner “Asking for the World”, and reaches into absolute depths of chaos for the abusive love song “Ultimate Devotion”. The lasting power of this record, and likely what makes it so particularly great in the first place is the variety it offers. 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. I’ll often find myself listening to their new albums and foolishly think that their older material certainly couldn’t stand up to their present musical tenacity and the growth they were able to find, but this record proves me wrong time and time again. It has so many elements of honesty and unchecked youthful risks that it’s unlikely the band will ever quite tap back into what makes this album so special.
Recommended Tracks: Reason To Believe, Matchbook, and Just Like Me
1. An American Paradox (2002)
What exactly drives me to place An American Paradox in the top position? Where Exile in Oblivion see the band constructing complex and sprawling songs that show the height of their experimentation and Twisted By Design features the pure and unharnessed potential of the band, I find myself coming back to An American Paradox as it’s the record that displays the style of the band unlike any other. The atmosphere of the album provides a thematic nature that I don’t think is ever fully realized on any of their other records. 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. Between the musically visual storytelling, there are still strong signs of passion and vitriol that spill out on “Razor Sex” and “The Kids” helping to tie together the more melodic areas. The closer “Cemetery” perfectly ties the whole package together by being both soothing and dark, and then shifting into a percussion outro, never letting go of the environment the album constructs. The percussion on this album particularly stands out with some of the band’s most iconic and signature fills spread throughout. Again, this album ranks at the top for me because I find that it’s the best musical interpretation of the band’s style and essence.
Recommended Tracks: Cult of the Subterranean, Razor Sex, and The Kids
— — — — — — — — — BONUS! — — — — — — —
Live in a Dive (2003)
Truly one of the greatest live albums I’ve ever heard and the live performance does real justice to all of the songs, instilling new life into tracks that may have sounded a bit hollow on the studio recording. The setlist of songs is also quite expansive, taking from their first 4 albums, their EP “Element of Sonic Defiance”, and a few of their rarer songs. The album serves as somewhat of a greatest hits for the first part of their musical career and as such, I would really recommend it for anyone who is new and getting into the band. Out of all of the live albums I’ve heard, I don’t think I’ve listened to any so frequently as I have this one, and I still fondly look back to the days of playing this in my car’s cd player.
Best Tracks: Bring Out Your Dead, The Kids, and Lost Motel
The Element of Sonic Defiance (2000)
With only 8 songs, Element of Sonic Defiance is a little too short to be included in the initial ranking, but it’s still certainly worthy of note, particularly for the high quality of the songs on it (songs that are quite reminiscent of those found on An American Paradox) and for the EP is a fan favourite amongst many. While I don’t find that the EP is quite on par with those songs made for An American Paradox 2 years later, tracks like “Savant” and “Razorblade” certainly make it worthy of giving it a listen. Despite this being an EP, I would not recommend skipping it.
Best Tracks: Savant, Razorblade, and Mission To Mars
