Review:'Smiling Assassin' 'Plight Of The Millennial'
- Genre: 'Punk/New Wave'
- Release Date: '27th May 2020'
Our Rating:
‘Assassin’ carries some dark connotations, and rightly so. However, my favourite assassin right now is Rooster’s Baby-Faced Assassin, an easy-drinking IPA that packs a walloping 6.1% ABV but goes down like a light fruity session ale. British hardcore quartet Smiling Assassin – pitched as being ‘FFO: Sick Of It All, Gallows & Agnostic Front’ aren’t nearly as easy. ‘Plight of the Millennial’ packs 9 tracks into 15 intense minutes.
In that time, they tear furiously through the anguish of a generation fucked over by those which preceded them, a generation oft-maligned but largely lost: ‘We’ve had enough of the pressure put unto by generations who have somehow, simultaneously, had a life easier, and harder than us’, George Garnett (clearly no relation to Alf) on ‘Prologue’ which sets the tone: musically, it’s fast and furious, lyrically, it’s impressively eloquent (even the 10-second title track, which simply features ‘fuck’ being screamed three times amidst a barrage of noise – because sometimes, simply put is most appropriate).
It’s a sharp dissection of the dominant issues facing us in the modern world, and when not slashing furiously at Murdoch’s empire, nationalism, and class division, there are moments that strike as intensely personal and direct, as exemplified by ‘Coping’. And it all rides on some piledriving riffs and frenetic percussion, a 100-mile-and-hour frenzy of fury played with all the passion and conviction.
‘News Corp. Monopoly’ brings a dash of ska to proceedings, but without sounding naff – less Dropkick Murphys and more like The Dead Kennedys covering The Specials, and ‘Aftermath’ brings the album to a close with a trudging beat and screams of terror. It’s a fitting finale to a full-on set.
