Now I don't know where you were on February 3rd 2013 but I was sat in a dark room listening to a brand new demo by Demon Smiles. It was raw as fuck and badly recorded and rough around every edge but by God was it cool and fun and full of pinache. Since that moment I've been there to watch the ebbs and flows of the band and when things hit a low point this time last year I stepped into guitarist duties for a few brilliant months whilst they pieced back together what had fractured. Last August whilst playing with Authority Zero I handed the guitar reigns over to newcomer Jazz, a sexy beast of a man with a beard that could impregnate a hundred virgins. Then the band, whilst keeping up their relentess touring schedule, knocked AMPED out.
This new album is many things to the band. It's a heartfelt display of sadness over the end of how things were, it's a positive affirmation of all the ideals the band holds dear, it's flexing of confident muscles showing the talent delivered week in and week out in stunning live shows but more than anything else it's all the potential the band has ever shown, distilled and magnified beyond measure. Quality wise in comparison to previous efforts it is as a hawk is to the mouse it is hunting. Superior in every facet. Even returning songs are infinitely better with almost the entire vocal focus of these going to Cat, who's beautiful, powerful vocals can shine so much more when not being interceded with tuneless growls. The drumming on display here is far and beyond anything heard before, rhythms in the brand new songs being faster and more technical than ever heard on record before. The pace of this thing is nothing short of break neck, apart from the odd dub reggae breakdown. Jazz the gorgeous new kid also shines through, keeping things all tied together with a skill and precision that was sorely lacking before.
Stand out tracks on here are hard to pin down to a one or two. Penny For The Wise is already an anthem for of all of us that have had to deal with band members going south. Based on a true story there are cheeky references to other bands and other things that warrant multiple repeat listens. Impropagandhi lets us know what the new Demon Smiles is all about, lightning fast with cleaner more precise guitar work than any older fans will be used to. Then there's Fuck You, which is the band personality, built into the most fun 2 minutes and 32 seconds you can have. I've mentioned improvements in the older songs so next up is my personal favourite We Are The Weirdos. This song is an affirmation of all the band cares most for whilst decrying those would ruin it for them, the bit where it goes "I'm in love with a dead generation, kept alive in my soul" is just too cool to handle. Enemy is the skatepunk-est song out of everything on display and also a close contender for favourite with the single fastest drumming anywhere in the DS back catalog.
Keys is a tune for every victim of street harassment to scream in the face of the next prick to attempt to force themselves on someone and become aggressive in denial. I may be a dude, but having to come home and hear stories from my wife of the idiots that try to woo her with such tactics as forcing her to take their number or calling her a bitch because she refused drinks I feel like this resonates with me the most out of all the others.
So in conclusion (for the TL;DR crowd) you could throw away everything that came before and not blink, this is the real deal, the peak (so far) of what the band is capable of and essential for your collection if you are in anyway into skatepunk.
