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Band: SmackHandle
Album: SmackHandle
Label: Self-released
Genre: Nu-Metal
Country: UK
Release Date: 14th April 2014
I'm sat here listening to the debut album from Lincoln's, SmackHandle and it feels like I've slipped into a reverse coma and have woken up in 1998. Is this a bad thing? Absolutely not! If your band will insist on playing "retro" music, then this is how to do it properly. With influences ranging from Korn, Marilyn Manson and Slipknot to Coal Chamber, Mushroomhead and Spineshank, this album is 90's to the very core, but bloody hell, its good. Far more than a mere nostalgia trip, SmackHandle have tapped into the innate darkness that made this type of music feel dangerous in the latter part of the 90's. They even look the part, with their Korn meets ICP image. Remember when Marilyn Manson was still public enemy No. 1? Or when Slipknot changed the game in 1999? THAT is what SmackHandle are doing here. SmackHandle have hit the mark with absolute precision and if the jaded youth of today can get into this, then they could be the band to kickstart the long-overdue, proper Nu-Metal revival (no, not Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit and that sub-standard, radio friendly drivel). If they do, I will be waiting with open ears and an open wallet.
The down-tuned guitars crunch and wail, the vocalist sounds (at times) like a deranged Jonathan Davis meets Dez Fafara, but with a far more varied and interesting range, the bass rumbles menacingly and the sampled screams, shrieks and carnival music make this sound like the soundtrack to your worst nightmares or to a blood-soaked horror B-movie. This is edgy, outlandish and over the top - everything that made Nu-Metal the dominating force it was at the time. Albums like this are very rare in today's climate and I have had this one playing repeatedly - The more you listen, the more you feel yourself being drawn into SmackHandle's dark carnival (sorry, ICP). If you are (were) a 90's Nu-Metalhead, then this is absolutely unmissable.
The album is available here for only £2.99.
Total Playing Time: 52:02
Overall: 8/10
Tracklist:
Intro
Madman's Request
Red XIII
Controversy
New Disease
Word
Ghost
Monster
GTFOMB
Ties (Bonus Track)
Amazing band and album, will definitely be keeping my on eyes (and ears) on these guys! Great review.
ReplyDeleteTrying to sound like KoRn and failing much? Lol sorry fellas there's only one KoRn and the Psychopathic clown circus shit has been done by ICP so you guys need to get somethin' original together.
ReplyDeleteI agree, not very original. Blatantly trying to rip off Korn. British metal sucks in general, nothing good comes out of the UK now days.
DeleteWhat? This doesn't sound like KoRn at all. Maybe the vocals in places but that's it. Since when did KoRn shred solos like the one in Red XIII and Word? Did you actually listen to more than the first 2 minutes of the first song? Great band, keep up the good work F*** the haters. ;)
ReplyDeleteTo the person who said "British Metal sucks in general"...
ReplyDeleteReally? Just from the last 5 months, we have had good / great albums from the likes of: Akb'al, Sigiriya, Battleaxe, Bury Tomorrow, Crippled Black Phoenix, Dark Forest, Vallenfyre, Dripback, Def Con One, SmackHandle, Skindred, Savage Messiah, Menace and Hark...to name just a few.
When you add the likes of Anaal Nathrakh, Collapse, Fen, Alestorm, Arceye, Beholder, Black Sabbath, Bleed From Within, BFMV, Carcass, Cathedral, Hell, Hecate Enthroned, Jaldaboath, L Sol Tace, Earls Of Mars, Cnoc An Tursa, Anathema, Senser, Tesseract, Earthtone 9, Evile, Malefice, Meads Of Asphodel, Mutation, Angel Witch, Black Moth, Sacred Mother Tongue, Satan, Saxon, Cradle Of Filth, Napalm Death, The Mercy House, Paradise Lost, Wolfsbane and Viking Skull.
...who have all released good albums in the past couple of years, then to make such a ridiculous, sweeping statement is just an indication of your ignorance of the scene...but you probably haven't heard all of these bands have you?