Unglued Reviews

Smoke Or Fire play a brand of hard-edged yet melodic punk that draws comparisons at times with labelmates Strike Anywhere, but by and large they escape the trap of sounding like just another cookie-cutter Fat Wreck clone band.

The Patty Hearst Syndrome is the album’s first single, and justifiably so, as the poppy lead guitar lines by Jeremy Cochran render it compulsive listening. However, there’s more variety on offer here than that, as shown by the mid-tempo Irish Handcuffs, the jittery opening of which leads into a savage confessional portrait of alcohol addiction. Thankfully the mood is then brought back up by Little Bohemia, a fast-paced catchy number that pays tribute to summer nights spent hanging out playing pool and listening to the jukebox. But even here there’s room for introspection, questioning the inertia of such a lifestyle: “I could sit in this spot all day, and see nothing around me change”.

There are a few songs born of life on the road, most notably Cars, although similar sentiments inform the melody-drenched I’ll Be Gone and the jagged Breadwinner. But there’s plenty of songs listeners who aren’t sick of touring with a band can relate to, from the left-wing political statements on addictive opener What Separates Us All to another song about television in the form of Life Imitating Art.

Shine features a lengthy instrumental introduction that goes through both passive and aggressive passages before Joe McMahon starts singing and delivers a strident polemic about class, whereas the title track tumbles over itself with its thunderous opening, and just about every song offers a chorus wielding a very big hook.

This Sinking Ship is an uncomplicated but forceful album that demands your attention with musical muscle and lyrical intelligence.

Owen Heitmann