This band has had an unavoidable knack for growing on me. Their first two albums I at first didn't enjoy all that much. But after repeat listens, I really got into their west coast hardcore style, and the singer's unique voice. As for this album, I can't say the same, totally. Their style has changed from their west coast hardcore style to more of a mixture of H2O, AFI, and Pennywise [which to me is no good, because I only like H2O out of those 3]. 98 Mute has made the jump to Epitaph and with that comes a bigger budget [I'm assuming] and a better producer in Fletcher from Pennywise. This is one of those instances where you wish they DIDN'T have a good producer. He makes the vocals sound too clean for my tastes, and they sound more generic then they used to. The music sounds a bit more bland and quieter, also, and the album seems to have a lack of energy that was displayed in their first two releases on Theologian. Overall, this isn't too bad of an album, and it's nice to see a good band like this get a little more exposure via Epitaph, but if you really want to check these guys out, pick up "Class Of '98" by them, it will rock your lily white ass.
[taken from A different kind of greatness webzine]