Album title: More Scared of You Than You Are of Me
Artist: The Smith Street Band
Genre: Punk Rock/Indie Rock
Nationality: Australian
Release date: April 7
Position in Discography: Fourth
Estimated Rating:
Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No
Average RYM Score: 3.33
Now this is more like my idea of punk: loud, raucous and ****-you: hard hitting guitars and an uncompromising vocal that seems more shouted than sung. This is what I used to hate about punk, thought all punk was like, and probably still won't like very much. Certainly energetic from the word go. “Death to the Lads” has an almost metal anger to it, very powerful with some vague Celtic influence. Pretty good actually. “Song For You” is great too. Really hear the Aussie accent coming through here!
Very surprised by the acoustic tone of “Passiona” and the pub-rock sound it later develops. Interesting to see Jeff Rosenstock is involved in this band, or at least a guest.
After a very uninspiring, frenetic start I have to say this album has settled into a groove I did not expect it to (book, meet cover etc) and I'm quite enjoying it now. Certainly has a lot more to offer than it seemed to me at first. Lucky I didn't stop at the first track, not that I'd have done that. You've got to love a song title like “It Kills Me To Have To Be Alive”, though the title is about the only good thing about it to be honest. Oh, and then the last minute where it kicks up and actually becomes quite good. “Suffer” is hilarious with its atypical refrain “You're the worst thing that ever happened to me” and “Young Once” sounds like them attempting an acoustic folk tune. Ah, for about a minute.
Also turns out not just to be the longest track, at just over five minutes, but one of the better ones too. This album has, once again, challenged my preconceptions about punk, though to be fair, those are changing and kind of melting away through this thread. Albums like this certainly help to hasten that process.
Check out more from this artist? Yes
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes
Actual Rating:
