The album’s ten songs long; if you hated Lifter Puller, you won’t like it, but if you hated Lifter Puller, what the fuck are you doing here: looking to get your ass kicked? It is widely known that I am not only willing to fight about this,  I am hungry. The Hold Steady Almost Killed Me differs from Lifter Puller insofar as it indulges Finn & Kubler’s taste for genuine anthems, cranks up Finn’s lyrical acumen to the level of Nigel Tufnel’s famous custom amplifier, and plays the death angle up a little higher than the sex angle while never losing sight of the sex because, well, hey, what romance does death hold if there isn’t any shameful Dionysiac overindulgence to regret or cherish in one’s final moments? As far as I can figure it, this last question is the Hold Steady’s mission statement as of right now. It’s enough for me. On the evidence, it’s enough for a lot of other people, too. Not to gloat about it too much, but all you people who cracked the hate stick on Lifter Puller when what they deserved was your unquestioning worship: welcome aboard!

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