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Neither a home run, then, nor the dreaded sophomore slump, The Monitor is, it is probably more fair to say, the album that finds the band maturing beyond the precocious triumph of their debut by first having to pass through their awkward, gangly adolescent phase.
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At times the running-on-fumes punk benefits The Monitor's overall sound. But the problem is that the songs that surround the defined centerpieces sound undeveloped or just plain fall flat, particularly early on when we hear about a supposed hero covered in excrement and piss as a dramatic plot-point.
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The execution here might have seemed a bit more authentic had they been going for a pure concept album with a Civil War theme; unfortunately, hearing Stickles locked in bloodied-but-unbowed mode throughout the record doesn't add any greater emotional depth to the intertwining themes.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 87 out of 105
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Mixed: 2 out of 105
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Negative: 16 out of 105
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RobApr 1, 2010Messy, confused, angry, brilliant.
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Oct 21, 2010
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Oct 22, 2021