The Thumbs started as a rough around the edges melodic punk band in the mid nineties and steadily progressed into more hardcore territory towards the turn of the century. After a great debut album and a couple stellar seven inches, they dropped this masterpiece which is arguably one of the best punk rock records of the late nineties in terms of passion, honesty and originality. Straddling a middle period between their melodic punk beginnings and the more DC style hardcore of their native area they would shell out in later work, this release finds them at the peak of their songwriting craft. It's got the great dual vocals, fast, dirt-under-the-fingernails melodic punk rock played with bristling intensity and catchy riffs galore. Why this album isn't well known is beyond me as it certainly wasn't for lack of effort. I saw these guys several times in various dive bars during my time in San Francisco and they were an East Coast band! They were a bit sloppy live and the songs lacked the nuance of the recorded material, especially one the times they were a three piece (as opposed to a four piece when they recorded this) but they more than made up for it in pure energy. This release is still fairly easy to get your hands on (unlike their great debut) so check out the tunes below and hear what you missed the first time around.