Beatsteaks - Smack Smash

  by Daniel Cressey

published: 27 / 3 / 2004

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You know what you’re getting with an Epitaph record. They’ve been The Punk-Rock label since before punk rock got big, or sold out depending on how you want to look at it (see the Offspring). As soon as you see that familiar tombstone ‘E’ logo on something you can tell you’re probably going to get some loud-quiet-loud, three chord, tuneful punk (see NOFX). Maybe with a bit of a horn section thrown in (see Less Than Jake). And perhaps some really shouty stuff as well (see Agnostic Front). Which brings us to this release by German punks the Beatsteaks, which has all of the above. This may sound like punk-by-numbers but it’s all done with such enthusiasm and such a big grin that it’s hard to hate it. The melodic bits are suitably tuneful, the shouty bits suitably loud and the (thankfully well rationed) horns suitably skanking. Some of this is distinctly pop. It never reaches Busted/McFly levels but the lyrics on ‘Atomic Love’ – with its “I was watching the show, now we’re shaking the floor, making trouble for sure.” – comes pretty close. Likewise the tribute to a departed god is really too much: “Hello, hello Joe; I keep on strumming”. But the bad moments are few and they pass quickly. This is actually a refined punk album, if that isn’t an oxymoron. The Beatsteaks have managed to take all the things that have made Epitaph such a successful label and distil them into 12 songs. If you don’t like punk rock then this will do nothing for you. But if you already own say, more than five (a totally arbitrary number) Epitaph albums then you should probably own this as well. Just make sure that if you’ve got a programmable stereo you fix it to skip ‘Hello Joe’.

Track Listing:-

1 Big Attack
2 Vision
3 Ain't Complaining
4 Hello Joe
5 Hand In Hand
6 Monster
7 Everything
8 I don't care as long as you sing
9 Atomic Love
10 Loyal To None
11 What's Coming Over You
12 My Revelation

Label Links:-

http://epitaph.com/
https://www.facebook.com/epitaphrecords
http://epitaphrecords.tumblr.com/
http://www.kingsroadmerch.com/epitaph-records/region/
https://twitter.com/epitaphrecords
https://www.youtube.com/epitaph

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