Review / 200 Words Or Less
Strung Out
Prototypes and Painkillers

Currently recording their eighth studio album, California punk quintet, Strung Out decided to put together this little compilation album full of b-sides, rarities, alternate takes, and demos. Given that Strung Out has undergone a bit of a transformation in their seventeen years as a band, you're bound to get just a bit of everything with this collection. It's really interesting to see how much they've changed as a band over time, especially since their cover of Descendents' "I'm Not a Loser" is followed by the heavier-edge Blackhawks Over Los Angeles b-side, "Novella." There in lies the problem with Prototypes and Painkillers; the ordering of the songs is completely random and it all sounds a bit awkward when listening to it as if it's a whole album. This is mainly an album for devoted Strung Out fans who are finally looking to own their cover of "Bark At The Moon" from the Punk Goes Metal compilation or hear some of the band's material from when they were a bratty skate punk band ("Sinner or Coward?," "Mad Mad World" ). With that said, there are some gems here like "Your Worst Mistake" and "More Than Words." This was probably just released to hold fans off until the new album but it's good to see some of these songs finally seeing the light of day but as an album, Prototypes and Painkillers isn't exactly cohesive and newer fans would be better off exploring their full-lengths rather than starting with this.