Mom’s Basement Records / This Is Pop, 12 Aug 2022
Canada’s Smelters sound like Ramones if they actually rode motorcycles in those leather jackets.
So stay with me here. There’s this fantastic (and fantastically short) film called “Vicious Cycles”. It’s brilliantly entertaining, using stop-motion animation and refusing to let any dialogue get in the way. The main characters are members of a motorcycle gang called Vicious Cycles, who have a bit of adventure after leaving their clubhouse / dive bar. Now, you might be wondering what any of this has to do with the new Smelters record, Burnin’ Dirt. In my weird little brain, this album is the sound of the guys from Vicious Cycles if they formed a band after hearing the only album available on their dive bar jukebox, Ramones Leave Home.
Burnin’ Dirt immediately hits with a roadrunning punk rock n roll song. “Can’t Stop” feels like a motorcycle road trip song with spare and timely backing vocals, a simple and memorable chorus, and an insistent bassline anchoring it all down. Lead single “Dance All Night” is probably my favorite song here. It’s got an almost anthemic “dance all night” chorus, a memorable melody, and a weirdo turn into surprising chords after the first verse-chorus sequence. Honestly, the first time I heard the song, it felt wrong in several ways, but I fell hard quick. Now it just keeps feeling better. “Friday Night” is an okay “gone drinking, met a girl” sorta song that is fairly catchy with some gang vocals that got me thinking about Black Flag‘s “TV Party”, though lyrically it’s a little sweeter and less nihilistic. “All Summer (In a Day)” is another decent number, with some nice stop-and-go hooks and a nicely melodic chorus. Elsewhere, “Highway 28” has one of my favorite verse-chorus combos. Both are catchy as shit, and I think this is the same ragged-voiced singer as the previously mentioned songs, but singing higher here and finding that works just fine. And before moving on, I wanna mention how really into the sounds-like-chainsmoking-and-whiskey-soaked lead vocals I am on these songs.
That said, on some songs, the vocals get inverted, with a cleaner-sounding vocalist moving to the front and the rough-and-tumble singer playing support. For example, the catchy-as-can-be chorus on “Tunnel Man” is pretty spot-on. I think I’ll be singing the “now you know who I am” line in my head for days to come. Another, “E.T. Pick Me”, is a little less aggressive, but it’s backed by female vocalist Lorette Mercier and is a great one that makes me wanna clap along during the end run. Later on, “Got the Love” is another good one. The verse is just-okay to me, but the song takes off when the backing vocals join in for some Ramones-style “whoa-oh’s” while singing about being “all revved up and ready to go” to see Ramones live. In the end, the vocalist doesn’t matter much because the insistent procession of barnburner rock doesn’t let up.
Smelters Burnin’ Dirt is a sort of oddball good time for me. I think if someone tried to tell me what I was gonna hear, I’d end up thinking it’s too “rock n roll” and skipping out. But then I’d be dumb. I don’t want you to be dumb, either. So maybe just listen to it already.
Favorite song: “Dance All Night”
Favorite moment: I love the moment in the opening of “Dance All Night”, right after the rattling bass and vocals sing the “do you remember when we used to…” and then the popping power chords hit and vocals go all melodic to sing “dance all night”. Surprised me the first time, still love it the 20th or 30th or whatever time I hear it.
Favorite whatever else: I love the Ramones-love on the tribute “Got the Love”
ryan is a reviewer and news editor for TGEFM. He’s very secretive, he might be an alien.
