Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Smalllife - Christian

Hear The Track Here

Smalllife have blasted onto my radar in a big way over the space of but a few tracks, primarily because they are a rock band that actually delivers the goods in every way. Proof of that claim, at least for this reviewer, are the three Smalllife tracks residing on my hard drive. For an artist to deliver such blistering tracks every time is just impossible and every time I now approach a new track I feel a sense of trepidation. The only other MP3 Unsigned artist to do so well with me this year is The Shed so I hope that goes some way towards showing my incredible bias for this band. Like the Shed, this is a band that LIKE to play together and it shows, they just have to be a hot band live or there is no justice.

Although you may get overtaken by the velocity that Smalllife's tracks come at you - I certainly did at first. Too busy gawking at the things whizzing by to really in the finer details, ya know what I mean? However, after extended listening you begin to realise that not only to do they play a blinder, they happen to write really cracking songs as well. Ultimately that is why so many of their tracks have ended up staying with me and maybe Christian is gonna join them, although the jury is still out right now on that. This isn't to say that Smalllife have delivered a dud. Anything but...as is their usual style. Nope, the reason for this uncertainty is because of the style this is encased in - much more punk than rock.

Seriously this gambols out of the gate like a greyhound on methamphetamine, talk about taking your breath away. It'll take a minute or two for this to sink in because there is a very deceptive intro, before the fireworks start. Be prepared, therefore, around one minute in, to get your head kicked in. This track is serious mosh pit stuff, the kind of thing that would make for a memorable evening - should you survive it. Can't say that I am over the moon about the intro but damn the rest of the track more than makes up for it. Suffice to say Christian is again, a cracking song. Jaymz Lee Shaw is in terrific voice carrying enough energy in his performance to power a continent. Being a long admirer of punk (it is, after all, rock based) this is a virtuoso performance, so much so that I had to keep wiping spit off my face. Great song, wonderful themes, golden performances and tough, intelligent lyrics. At this stage of the game, Smalllife have just about everything going for them. Doncha just HATE that?? :P

Rock/punk hybrid heat seeking missile.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great Review! Love this band! Love this song! Love this blog!