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May 2024

• The Treatment: Wake Up The Neighbourhood
• The Tangent: To Follow Polaris
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April 2024

• War Grave: War Grave EP
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March 2024

• Cruzh: The Jungle Revolution
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February 2024

• Traveler: Prequel To Madness
• Lionheart: The Grace Of A Dragonfly
• Honeymoon Suite: Alive
• Durbin: Screaming Steel
• Smoking Snakes: Danger Zone
• Revolution Saints: Against The Winds
• Striker: Ultrapower
• Show N Tell: The Ritual Has Begun
• Robert Hart: Circus Life

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Smoking Snakes: Danger Zone

Heavy Metal (Sleaze) Rock

3.5/5.0

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Frontiers Music
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 07.02.2024 | Released: 09.02.2024

From the fertile musical soil of Gothenburg, Smoking Snakes arrives with their debut full-length studio album, Danger Zone. Preceding this, the quartet dropped three singles over 2022 and 2023. These songs would then be pitched in the EP, Restless And Wild. The EP caught the attention of Italy's Frontiers Music who signed the band for their debut album. The new album also includes all three songs from the EP: Run For Your Life, Excited, and There's No Tomorrow.

Smoking Snakes

Citing peers and influencers like W.A.S.P., Ratt, Dokken, and Kiss, Smoking Snakes plays classic heavy metal sleaze rock straight out of LA's Sunset Strip in the Eighties. At the very least they got the look. But Smoking Snakes also has the musical chops: fast and heavy metal with rock groove, gang vocals, and big guitar solos, then wrapped up in song melody and harmony.

Turning to the tunes, that previous sentence largely defines most every song. Essentially, from the gate, Smoking Snakes puts the pedal to the metal, opens the throttle, and the race is on. Rock rhythm and groove and sharp roaring riffs leads to the inevitable and necessary fiery guitar solo. Knobs to eleven, heavy fast rockers arrive with Run For Your Life, Excited, Restless And Wild, Angels Calling, and Sole Survivors. And basically all the rest. Even W.A.S.P., Ratt, and Kiss were known for mixing things up here and there.

I hoped to find something different or some versatility, but there's little variation to be found here. Even a song with a morbid title, Sorrow, Death And Pain, might suggest dialed back steady metal, but no. It's also a horse race. The final binding thread is Brett Martin's raw and assertive vocals which also vary little across the album. Some may find his vocal presence a bit too much, but Martin does have a distinctive sound.

All in all, for a contemporary interpretation of old school Eighties heavy metal sleaze rock, Smoking Snakes and Danger Zone offers genre fans an explosive blast from the past in the present day. Recommended for fans of the genre.

Note: All Amazon advertising in this review first benefits the artist, then Craig Hartranft also receives a residual. Click, and thanks for your support.

For a contemporary interpretation of old school Eighties heavy metal sleaze rock, Smoking Snakes and Danger Zone offers listeners an explosive blast from the past in the present day. Recommended for fans of the genre.

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Next year, American metal band Riot V, founded by the late guitarist Mark Reale (d. 2012), will celebrate their 50th anniversary in the metal business. Though we haven't had a new studio album from the band ... [ Read More ]

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