I will be the first to admit that sometimes, my opinions about certain bands or albums have absolutely no rational sense behind them. Take for instance The Power of Failing. I have been a huge Mineral fan ever since I bought a CD copy of EndSerenading at my local record shop in high school, even following Chris Simpson on to his wonderful project The Gloria Record.

So what line of thinking led me to not care at all about The Power of Failing until I was well into my thirties?

I can vaguely remember writing it off as amateurish and “punky,” lifting up EndSerenading with its cascading guitars and slower tempos as the far superior album. And while I still stand by my claim that their second album is the better record, I’m not sure “far superior” is an accurate claim.

Are the tempos a little faster? For the most part. Do the guitar parts favor power chords over glistening arpeggios? Undeniably. Are the lyrics a little more juvenile? Sure. But none of that gets in the way of this being a damn good album.

There’s plenty of intricate guitar composition for the EndSerenading stan in me, on brilliant tracks like “Dolorosa” (Latin for “the way of pain,” often used for the route it is traditionally believed that Jesus carried his cross to be crucified) or opener “Five, Eight, and Ten,” which has the incredibly relatable line “Now I wonder if I can even move or breathe without disappointing someone.” There’s also the seven-minute “Silver,” which reaches for post rock levels of intricacy. And of course, there’s “Parking Lot” which is for many people the essential Mineral track.

Given the strength of the more uptempo tracks though—remember, which is the reason I ignored this album for so long—I wouldn’t have even needed the concession of the more “sophisticated” tracks. “Gloria” flirts with hardcore, with fiery bent guitar lines exploding between lines. “If I Could” is almost pop punk, maintaining its energetic tempo and overdriven guitar chords throughout the whole song.

But despite whatever ill informed opinions I had formed about the dichotomy between Fast Mineral and Slow Mineral, or Power of Failing Mineral and EndSerenading Mineral, there is really just the one Mineral, whole and complete. The same Mineral that made the album I love made this album that I had ignored for so long. Many of these songs wouldn’t raise an eyebrow if they were placed in the middle of the track list for EndSerenading (especially the patient and explosive “If I Could.” Had high school me bought this instead, Mineral probably would have become just as dear to me.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a lot of lost time to make up for.