Smith & Swanson - S/T Review

The first Doom Metal band of this year. For my good, and the fan’s, sake it’s not a typical Doom Metal band. No songs with more than fifteen minutes with the incredible repetition of riffs and moods. I don’t get to know why some bands think that it’s just spend fifteen minutes playing the same repeating riff. Only a thought… But here Smith & Swanson tried something different, and more exciting. You know, just in case. The band explore the hypnotic and mesmerized mood that I do like a lot. Indeed. “Smith & Swanson” has a very mesmerizing atmosphere that gets the fan by the guts. This kind of Doom is great. Not the other kind.

“Smith & Swanson” isn’t a pure Doom Metal album. It also contains traces of Tradicional Heavy Metal that enlightens the tracks. Some punchful riffings are always welcome in any Metal album as “Song for Harry” where the mood sounds a lot as Dio’s “Sacred Line” era. The guitar riffing turns from hyptonic to be catchy, if you know what I mean. There are guitar riffs that are simply catchy and the fan can’t get it out from mind. That’s the case here. Following track “Worms” from the beginning rang a bell in my mind. The obscure guitars reminded me of “Desolation Angels” a great band that I wrote here sometimes. Though the song changed the feeling stuck into my mind. Well, the chorus here is also ver sticky as the guitar riffing from the previous track. I have to say that one thing that catches really the fan’s attention in “Smith & Swanson” is this catchy and sticky way of playing the so-called Doom Metal. The album is exciting and full of energy. It’s not a corpse, if you know what I mean. Of course, there corpses in Metal world that are really interesting, but if you get me, it’s a Sunday today and on Sundays I like to remind that I’m alive. Just that. Sunday is way too morbid to be listening to more morbid songs.

It’s really funny when sometimes the track titles don’t really mean what they desire to pass. Album opener “No Colors” had the oppostite effect on me. I saw it bright and colorful. It may be the attractive guitar riff that colors all the way even though it was not the intent. Funny thing. The same I have to say about the album. The idea as a Doom Metal release is to be as dark and gloomy as possible but, sorry to say, it backfired totally.

Everything in this album was made to be simple and plain. Not only the songs follow this simple rule that some Metal bands refuse to believe is the best. Even the song’s titles are simple with mostly only one word. And no more than seven tracks are necessary to catch the fan’s mind and soul. Moreover, the heart. The more simple the better, a thing I always say here. Just let the music speak and the chords do their magic.

Smith & Swanson “Smith & Swanson” will be released on February 25th via No Remorse Records.

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