ALBUM REVIEW: Smile – Skindred
Celebrating 25 years of dirty reggae beats and catchy rock riffs coming together in harmony, Welsh act SKINDRED have brought the most appropriate commemoration to the masses. At a time where there isn’t much joy and happiness in the world, enter Smile.
Coming five years after the ever-so-energetic Big Tings, this is one of the most highly anticipated releases in the rock world this year. SKINDRED are a band that find themselves almost everywhere; in the support slot for some of the biggest acts in the world, or even being one of the most popular acts to grace the stages of Download Festival, they always manage to work their punk rock magic wherever they go. More than ever, they have brought this magic to the tunes within Smile. Kicking off with the unapologetic track Our Religion, no emotions are being censored and there is no holding back. As frontman Benji Webbe moves along the track with his mix of low-pitched heavy metal growls and his trademark melodic vocals, there is no doubt that this is one of the most powerful songs of the record – and it’s literally only the beginning.
The band have taken the last year to tease this outstanding release, with singles such as Unstoppable, Set Fazers and Gimme That Boom. The latter of these appears first on the record and presents itself as a classic SKINDRED tune. It’s got that fantastic rhythm that will make half the room jump to the ceiling and the other half headbang until they get whiplash, along with the dirty and delicious breakdowns activated by Webbe‘s infectiously empowering vocals. An act is never one member, but it can be as big as their biggest member. Thankfully for this Newport collective, they have Webbe as their face and voice. There is nothing too individualistic about the single, but that doesn’t mean it’s not memorable. It does not diminish the efforts put into it and the energy that’s been injected through its musical bloodstream. Being a SKINDRED song is the best Smile could hope for, because that’s already a winner.
If I Could stands out with the formula of a hurricane. There is a storm raging on and it’s wild, it’s dangerous, it’s breathtaking; but there are calms to break up the devastation. These lulls come with the chorus, which highlights Webbe‘s voice as the instrument it is on its own. One of the softer songs – by SKINDRED standards – it has the potential to be a crowd-pleaser in a live performance. Only time will tell, but if their fans are anywhere near the true party animals they seem to be, they should also appreciate some soulfulness from time to time.
L.O.V.E. (Smile Please) is one of the latest cuts taken from Smile. It sees the band come back down to Earth with a more lighthearted sound, beat, and theme. Maybe it’s the use of non-traditional instruments such as trumpets, or the repetition of “Love is what the people want / Love is what the people need“. Or maybe it’s the back-up chanting by children. There is something beautiful in and out about this track.
It’s also those deep-down roots of reggae showing themselves more obvious than usual on L.O.V.E (Smile Please), as well as following track This Appointed Love, that have made SKINDRED the household name they are today. This is an age-old combination for the outfit, as they use the fusion of metal and reggae to ignite their tunes with a range of flavours – similarly to how nu-metal will fuse metal and hip-hop to create this brand new, ultra-energising genre.
Being arguably at the forefront of reggae-rock, there is no issue with SKINDRED keeping the beats they’ve developed over the decades. Some bands can shake up their formulae and keep innovating the way they produce, write and play music. Other bands have found what works and made it work well. So smile, SKINDRED are here to stay.
Rating: 9/10
Smile is set for release on August 4th via Earache Records.
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