Chaos and Lawlessness, the debut EP from Smartbomb, is an adrenaline-soaked explosion of eight fast and furious tunes in 12 minutes. Unfortunately, that's all it is.
Even with their frenzy of noise and frantic speed, I found myself being bored with this record. Even though it's only 12 minutes of music, it plays like one 12-minute hardcore tune because there is nothing to break up the sound. What should be exciting because of its tempo simply starts to drag because it's the same thing over and over again.
At one time, it was OK for a band to relentlessly tear into vicious spastic guitars - when it was new musical experiment. Nowadays it's simply a monotonous throwback and a painful rehash of what's already been done. This is the point where Smartbomb is at right now; they're playing this charged hardcore that shows ability without innovation and talent without improvisation.
It's not that I don't like this record; it has it's moments. Unfortunately they all sound like stuff from 7 Seconds or the Descendents. And it's not that I don't like bands like 7 Seconds or the Descendents; I really do. It's just that when I want to hear those bands (or similar bands), I reach back for the classics. When I want to hear some new punk rock, I look for something that is new, that is taking the sound and using old-school punk structures, melodies and sensibilities and instilling them with something fresh. If it doesn't sound new, it may as well be something old.
And really, I'm not even sure that this material is new. "Kids These Days" even uses the line "The year's 2005", leading me to believe this might be a recording collection of some older material, hopefully to get it in the can and out of the way before the next record (Listen/Download).
Smartbomb has potential - they are tight and cohesive as a band - and I think they very well could be a heavy-hitting diamond in the rough. They just need to reevaluate and explore their sound and see that mixing it up is good; you don't need to be slamming your sound at us constantly. They also need to learn that, while imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, innovation is often the best way to make a decent record.
Release Date: February 19, 2008
