Smother show why they deserve the success that they will achieve
Throwing themselves headlong into the opening number 'This Generation Cannot Say No', Smother use a highly charged chord thrashing guitar led sound to great effect. Add to this heart hammering drums and vocals with both a raw edge and intensity that have something in common with a chainsaw and you start to see the passion these guys have for their music. 'Last Go Round' is darker and heavier; it has a more challenging style to it and has some great lyrics, "They found me dead in a hotel room/Hanging from a curtain rail/Don't regret your vices". They have a "stick in your head" number with 'Understand' as it moves through a musical pattern that has "play again" written all over it. Full of great rhythm, the band show a maturity that will surprise many.
With 'Find A Happy Place' the band produce a lighter sound that is counter balanced by the screaming guitar solo and the depressed message in the lyrics. In 'You Don't Have To Say A Thing' the band serve up a superb helping of music that, although it threatens to breakout at times they keep a tight leash on and control this songs direction well.
'Toy' is unfortunately a number that disappoints in this album because it drifts into a more pop style. Although there are flashes of sixties sound, it just doesn't excite like the other numbers. But Smother do have the ability to do things just that bit differently, as displayed in 'Curiosity Killed The Sexes' with its impassioned core that is overlaid with electronic spirals and interspersed shots of hard action; this talent can be heard again in 'The Purest Meate'.
Displaying guitar work that varies from ray gun scream to AK47 rip, the band are really tight here, as in 'Use', which is a number that underlines the commitment to each other and their music that these guys have. With 'People Stay The Same' the band take their music into a slightly different direction, but the use of clever spiral sound shots that on their own would not be out of place in some form of psychedelia, is an indication of their writing abilities. The final track 'A New Formation Of The Truth' is one of those numbers that will beat your doors down- it's insistent and relentless, and produces a whirlpool of noise that is brilliant. With this one number Smother show why they deserve the success that they will achieve.