The Story So FarThese Californians have never done things by halves and it’s certainly true of their third album.
Smile kicks things off in blistering fashion, hooky lines ricocheting around Parker Cannon’s spits and lamentations, while the solid guitar work just keeps ramping up in chuggy tracks Heavy Gloom and Distaste. There are impassioned lyrical outbursts, riffage galore, smart structures, catchy back-and-forth interplay between Cannon and the edgy riffs and clean kit, excellent in Nerve, yielding many highlights. Only the ballad, Phantom, all soft beat and daggy ‘80s bent guitar, puts a dampener on things.
