Record Label: Hellcat Records
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I didn’t know that Rancid had released another album since Indestructible. They didn’t? Well who in the hell did I just listen to then? Oh yeah…Time Again. Did Tim Armstrong write these songs?

That’s what I thought the second that I heard the first chord and verse on “The Stories Are True”. I’ve heard bands that have tried to mimic Rancid over the years, but Time Again was right on the money. I’m not saying that having another Rancid is a bad thing…shit, I could listen to a hundred different bands if they sounded exactly like Rancid. Time Again do write their own sing-along punk anthems, the lead singer has that hoarse I’m smoking ten cigarettes and I’m wasted sound, they are on Hellcat and Tim Armstrong does appear on one of their songs, so you would kinda figure that they would have that street punk sound going on.

If you put the eerie similarities to Rancid aside, “The Stories Are True” is a great album. There are a lot of sing-along songs, some great guitar solos and lots and lots of energy abound. There’s even a ska song on here! I felt like moshing in my room while typing up this review. Seriously. When comparing this particular compact disc to one of Rancid’s albums think of either Let’s Go or Rancid 2000. In typical punk fashion, this thirteen-track disc clocks in at about 27 minutes. The song writing is very good. The songs deal with topics ranging from alcoholism and drug addiction to finding your way in life. The songs sound real and from the heart with experience. For a band to sound this good and play this style so right on and not be Rancid just blows my mind. Great stuff.

If you’re sick of your punk music sounding like everything on Fueled By Ramen then check out a new band that sounds old school (if your old school is circa 1994). Time Again rip through one good punk song after another and to beat a dead horse, they shred just like Rancid and Lars’ Bastards. Tim Armstrong gives them props so you know they have to be good.

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Notable Tracks: Cold Concrete, Kenny, Fountain and Formosa, Streetwalker
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