SLICK SHOES “Far From Nowhere”
Side One Dummy – where formerly great bands come to release ‘comeback’ records. First it was THE MIGHTY MIGHTY BOSSTONES, then THE SUICIDE MACHINES, and now you can add SLICK SHOES to that list. With the latter band’s previous two releases, “Wake Up Screaming, and “S/T” coming off as buttered-up attempts to hit the pop-punk jackpot, these guys have reformulated their songwriting, convened a modified line-up, and kicked out the suck! “Far From Nowhere,” immediately pushes this band back to their ultra-fast melodic hardcore beginnings, “Rusty” and “Burn Out,” and then races forward with unbridled urgency and a guitar sound to kill for. SLICK SHOES are back and tearing it up along the way. But before one gets too comfortable in basking in the glow of the forbidden beat, SLICK SHOES don’t forget the need to mix tempos up a bit and spread their talents widely. Every now and then the band chimes in with a poppier track, allowing the listener to gasp a few doses of air before the oncoming wave pummels again. A few burning guitar solos here, a load of frisky drum fills there, and a whole slate of multi-vocal harmonies give “Far From Nowhere,” SLICK SHOES’ boldest sounding release yet. Although the crafty guitar work is still not as technically precise as exhibited on “Burn Out,” these guys can rip hard and fast. At times, the pounding drums sound downright intimidating in comparison to the smooth vocals, as if the percussion is just going to open up and swallow the rest of the band. This disc reaches its peak on the eighth track, “Hope Against Hope,” where the aggresion reaches a boiling point, churning up some vicious breakdowns and screams that barely simmer before the band goes for the throat again. I haven’t heard a band play this style of music so well in what feels like years, and even with a new LAGWAGON disc to salivate over, SLICK SHOES seem to take this ol’ skatepunk trick a tad further with the youthful angst that even LAGWAGON admits it doesn’t have anymore. If this doesn’t get your pulse racing, you might as well start knitting a sweater…
Side One Dummy
