Album Reviews

Celebrating their 35^th year as a band, Strung Out is set to release their 10^th studio album with ‘Dead Rebellion’. Written over the course of the pandemic, the punk-metal powerhouse was set on reinventing themselves and as a result the band’s anniversary album is less focused on speed, and more on mid-tempo songs and melody. That should be taken with a grain of salt though, because the songs still pack plenty of punch and it’s not like they sound like a completely different band on ‘Dead Rebellion’.

What is new though is that there are plenty of moments where Strung Out sounds quite a lot like a nu-metal band from the 00’s. Something that my 20-year-old self would have liked a lot more than the 44-year-old version. Opener ‘Future Ghost’ for example brings back memories of a band like Drowning Pool before the chorus brings it back to the Strung Out we know. And it’s not limited to the opening track. Nu metal influences are a constant throughout ‘Dead Rebellion’, while a song like ‘White Owl’ takes it back even more and kicks things off with a riff that would make Iron Maiden proud. Lyrically, the album finds vocalist Jason Cruz delving into the complexities that come with the technology-driven world we find ourselves in and where divisiveness thrives.

While there’s absolutely no denying that Strung Out is a very talented band with all the technical chops and a knack for writing strong melodies, I somehow found my interest waning with every passing song. And the annoying thing is that I can’t pinpoint why that is. Because my personal tastes have changed? Because in spite of the reinventing part, it still sounds like I've heard it all before? All of the above? I’m not sure, but it's definitely a case of ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ .

Dead Rebellion track list:

1. Future Ghosts
2. Signal Fires
3. New Gods
4. White Owls
5. Life You Bleed
6. Cages
7. Empire Down
8. Resistance
9. Ceremony
10. Veronica’s Song
11. Dystopian Party Bus
12. Plastic Skeletons