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Smackbound: 20/20

Modern Heavy Metal Rock

4.0/5.0

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Frontiers Music
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 10.06.2020 | Released: 12.06.2020

Arriving from Finland, Smackbound is the creation of Finnish actress and classicly trained singer Netta Laurenne. If you're a Netflix binger, you may know her from the streaming Finnish television series Bordertown. Ms Laurenne is joined by fellow Finns Teemu Mäntysaari (Wintersun) on guitar, Rolf Pilve (Stratovarius, The Dark Element) on drums, Vili Itäpelto (Tracedawn) on keyboards, and Tuomas Yli-Jaskari (Tracedawn) on bass. On the strength of three singles, Smackdown drops their debut long-player, aptly titled 20/20.

Smackbound

Getting straight to the music, Smackbound plays modern heavy metal rock which is generally fast and heavy, dense and intense, with with Ms Laurenne equally assertive vocals at the forefront. The songs come with raging riffs and volcanic solos, a thick bass line and heavy blast beat drumming, and a dash of synths for accent and more density. But you can't say that the song are without a sense of melody, harmony, and groove. Laurenne holds the responsibility of keeping the song melody alive amidst the bombastic heaviness. With few exceptions, the songs are as described with raging heavy rockers coming with Wall Of Silence, Drive It Like You Stole It, Run, Troublemaker, or Date With The Devil. The exceptions are the symphonic and heavy rock anthems Close To Sober and Wind And Water which display the breadth and depth of Laurenne's vocal strength, if not Smackdown's ability to dial things back a bit. All said, if you like your heavy rock with some modern metal intensity and groove, and female vocals, you will enjoy Smackbound and their debut album 20/20.

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

All said, if you like your heavy rock with some modern metal intensity and groove, and female vocals, you will enjoy Smackbound and their debut album 20/20.

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