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Smartbomb "Chaos And Lawlessness" reviews
EvilNeedles.com
Punk rock is best played speedy, snotty and gritty with tons of pissed-off discontent, and that's exactly how Smartbomb does it. There are no crooning poppy lyrics, no scenester boys in tight pants and no soaring melodies here. These guys are too busy playing real punk to worry about being pretty and poppy.
Smother.net
Proto-punk and hardcore kids from Massachusetts, Smartbomb like to employ extremely fast tempos and pit-fillers. They succeed with that sort of youth crew sound that all the punk kids are craving these days. I just remember when all the kids were donning 7 Seconds gear and climbing the walls to the Descendents. The new generation still looks back but don’t know what the hell a 7-inch is. Regardless I’m glad that newer groups like this exist with intelligent messages and an urge to play as fast as good old school trash-y punk did.
ScenePointBlank.com
Members of No Trigger and Shock Nagasaki playing melodic hardcore in the vein of Kid Dynamite, Descendents, and 7 Seconds? Sign me the hell up! Heck, it really doesn't matter what bands these guys also play in when you write songs like these.
Chaos and Lawlessness is Smartbomb's debut EP, an eight-song effort that tracks in at just over twelve minutes. What you get is fast-paced melodic hardcore with some of that traditional pop-punk flavor. The music is really energetic and upbeat; there aren't any really slow parts - kind of reminds me of the early Epitaph and Fat Wreck catalogs.
An added note, Ryan Eyestone's artwork for this release is quite rad. He's done awesome work for loads of bands - Outbreak, Trash Talk, The Carrier, and more. Check it out. Bottom-line; this is one of the better EP's I've heard in a long time. Pick up a copy immediately.
PunkBands.com
Once again I find myself loving a record and absolutely hating it's artwork. Smartbomb's new EP, Chaos and Lawlessness, should definitely win the worst artwork of the year award and it was only just released this past February.
Other than that though, this is an amazing record. Smartbomb seem to pick up where Kid Dynamite left off and throw in some East Bay influence. The sound doesn't come as too much of a surprise considering that two of the members are formerly of No Trigger.
This is one of those records that really makes you believe in punk rock again. It's so rare that you hear a record in this vein anymore where the band doesn't feel like it's just going through the motions to push out another release. That passion really comes through on Chaos and Lawlessness and is what will hopefully save this record and band from falling into obscurity.
If you love real, honest punk rock and miss the days when the bands that populate said genre were still passionate about what they do, then give this record a chance.
