This is one of my favorite, if not the favorite, hardcore releases of 1999. Let me explain. Just put the disc into your player and start it. The album kicks off with When Sorrow Falls. The intro might distract you a bit but then the band launches some powerful hardcore with great playing abilities and full of punkrock energy. The song structures are excellent, diverse and still such a unity. The screaming vocals fit the music naturally. They have an almost melodic style of guitarplaying incorporated. Just listen to All We've Lost to get an idea. This is splendid. They even have acoustic stuff in their songs. Another great song is For Now which starts with piano! But while the piano-intro plays, the heavy guitars join until they take it over. They do it so great! The album is dedicated To A Friend, Matt Leveton, who got paralyzed through a car accident. In the song To A Friend they express their feelings towards him: "No words can express the emptiness I felt. Nothing can hide the way we felt inside. Stripped of our emotions, forced to reconcile. The suffering of a friend consumed us all the while........This is the battle we must win. And when you're in the depths of despair, know I will be there. We will be there. We'll comfort you, we'll carry you...until the end." I can only say: Wow, what an album!
Other coverage for this album
HM Magazine #78Reviewed by Ben MengdenInstant win. This album is an easy punk/hardcore success. Leaning more towards the hardcore side, each song is powerful; a well done ensemble. A hail to the reasons we love hardcore: positive, motivational lyrics, energy, musical strength. Reminiscent of H2O, they have enough punk in them to do this wonderful chorus singing, while the lead vocals are more full-out screams. Both types of vocals…The Phantom Tollbooth 1999Reviewed by Joe RockstrohWith an eye on the old-school and an ear for melody, Stretch Arm Strong shows that they're not your average hardcore band. The classical guitar opening of "When Sorrow Falls" proves this. But, seconds later, when the band starts speeding along ala old school hardcore, you also learn this band isn't for wimps. It's this strange dichotomy that drives the Stretch Arm Strong sound. The song "For Now"…Similar sounding releases
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