The Smoking Hearts - Pride of Nowhere

The Smoking Hearts
Pride Of Nowhere

Featuring the likes of Nobba and Lethal in their line up (guitar and vocals respectively), The Smoking Hearts are the definition of the hard-rocking, hard-living devoted. Featuring 13 tracks that clock in at under half an hour, their debut ‘long player’ Pride Of Nowhere bestows the virtues of a life lived loud and fast and having a good time at all times.

A cascading haze of screamed vocals, pile-driving drums and a two-pronged guitar assault, Nowhere races past with barely a let up and comes across as a thrash, trashy bar room brawl between Avenged Sevenfold, The Gallows and even Napalm Death. The titular opening track teases with a slow-burning bass-led intro before launching into a thrash-out beast and from here on in, it’s a heads-down race to the finish, with Lethal’s vocals jostling for pole position with Barker and Nobba’s six-string work. Occasionally, a lighter edge comes in as the band threatens to throw a curveball into the mix in the shape of a chorus or even a harmony, but for the most part it is business as usual: the Hearts serving up their own particular brand of guitar-soloing, three-chord punk rock and sleaze.

A call to arms to be who you want to be, the band’s aggression targets, amongst other things, defiance to conformity while generally advocating travelling the road less travelled. The Smoking Hearts’ message is commendable if not exactly revolutionary, and nor is it subtly presented (“Choke on your nine to five,” Lethal screams, and there’s the sensitively-titled “Thrash B4 Gash”).

Living as an individual and following your own path may be the overriding mission statement here but the irony is that, while the band strive to be different, to avoid the daily rigmarole of modern life, to subvert expectations, rally against the majority and raise hell, Pride Of Nowhere is surprisingly formulaic and, dare we say it, predictable. Working within well-defined genre boundaries and without veering into or even towards territory that is in anyway new, there are few surprises here. Still, The Smoking Hearts’ antagonistic aggression, enthusiasm and unwavering belief in the cause steers them through.

By Alasdair Morton

Pride Of Nowhere is out now on George Street Records.