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Stretch's new album dropped about 6 weeks ago. It's gotten mixed reviews from some of my more trusted sources, but I found out the price just dropped to 9.99 at Best Buy, so I picked it up last night. It's a good record, but it's different. I dunno. Chris is still one of my favorite vocalists. There's just so much passion in his voice. But with a new lineup and on a new label, there's something different on this record. Maybe it's Ryan Greene's (over) influence. Maybe the band is growing up and writing differently. Maybe I was predisposed to not liking it based on the sticker that said it was "for fans of Story of the Year, NOFX, and Thursday", in that order. (Sidenote: NOFX, really? Why, because Ryan Greene did the mix down? I dare you to find a Strech song that is even remotely like a NOFX song. I agree with the Thursday part though, this record is somewhat stylistically similar to Full Collapse. And SOTY, I liked them better when they were Big Blue Monkey and no one else besides Kevin Wade had ever heard of them, but they're still a talented band, and a good fit for comparison. My only complaint is really that the record had a sticker at all.) Maybe it's a combination of a lot of things. Like I said, the album is good, it's gotten probably 20 spins by now. There's still lots of breakdowns. There's still energy, though admitedly toned-down like Engage's Black Clouds or Miles Apart. There are more vocal harmonies. The songwriting is still very creative and the flow is still fresh and unique. There's more singing and less screaming, but even the singing is still right on the raw edge of intensity. Here's the problem I think: I liked Revolution Transmission, I liked most of Engage, I have It Burns Clean on vinyl, though I didn't appreciate it at the time I first got it I now think Compassion Fills The Void is great, but Rituals of Life has become for me a sort of measuring stick by which every subsequent record (by any band) must be compared. The problem with this is that no record will ever measure up. Certainly better songs have come and gone, but Rituals Of Life is probably one of the most crucial albums in my collection. I found Stretch Arm Strong at a low point in my own life and Rituals Of Life turned everything around. It made it okay to be hurt, scared, and vulnerable; there was someone who understood, someone who didn't claim to have all the answers, but the simple advice to believe in myself and hold on to what I knew was right. It's why I could never write a review for it on punkrocks.net; it's too important for mere words. More so the emotional impact than anything else binds the record to my soul. No record will ever surpass its sentimental value. Free At Last is a good record, but it was doomed from the start for not being 1999, not having the opening to When Sorrow Falls, and not being eye to eye with the band at Under The Couch singing I'll Stop The World And Melt With You alongside My Friend Tim™.

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  • I'm Rev. Adam
  • From Oakton, Virginia, United States
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