Lizard Smile - Wayward

Album Review

LIZARD SMILE started out in 1995 when 3 guys meet on a gig at one of their places. Over the following years they would be touring a lot and releasing the first album ‘Press My Button’ around the year 2000, bringing the band’s sound to a wider audience. Following the release, the band did lots of touring again and shared stages with the likes of DIVA DESTRUCTION, DEINE LAKAIEN or THE NEON JUDGEMENT. Their new album ‘Wayward’ has been released to the public in summer 2009.

Within seconds, the opener ‘I was Wrong’ develops into an atmospherically dense club anthem with long stretched layers and most prominently the special, wide guitar sound drifting through the gloomy air. ‘As If I Know’ is more of an electronic pendant to Post Punk, having very minimalist rhythms but putting on a much more aggressive stance with the guitars almost roaring. ‘Dry’ isn’t a dry matter at all with quite complex patterns opening the track, which is turning into sort of an Industrial Rock / Future Pop hybrid, while the latter influences aren’t as obvious as the former ones with the heavy distortion laying on the guitars all the time. The first half of ‘Murder Hole’ remains in the shadows with analogue electronics as minimalist as can be and increasingly diversified guitar work that can easily be confused with ambient synth sections due to its make up.

’The Other You’ offers organic sounding drums and once again the trio impresses with its cunning use of guitar effects , and Beatnick’s vocal delivery on the track is more intense than ever before. ‘What I See’ brings the album to a down-tempo close and tells a seemingly very personal story in its lyrics. Even though they’re no musical beginners, the name LIZARD SMILE won’t ring a bell with most people. If you are among those, you should quickly change that and check out some songs of them. The trio’s sound, especially the guitar stuff, is very unique and should be heard by a wider audience.


Tracklist

01. I was Wrong - 4:20
02. As if I Know - 3:57
03. Dry - 4:02
04. Murder Hole - 5:39
05. Conversations - 3:33
06. Neon Haze - 4:35
07. How To Deal With This - 5:02
08. Reverie - 4:34
09. The Other You - 5:51
10. What I See - 4:35


Line-Up

Beatnick - Vocals
Strobo - Guitars
Albi Voombastic - Bass


Website

http://lizardsmile.be/ / http://www.myspace.com/lizardsmile


Cover Picture




Rating

Music: 7
Sound: 8
Extras: -
Total: 7.5 / 10


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