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Album Review: Smoking Martha- In Deep (2017)




Smoking Martha is an exciting new Rock band from Australia.

 Upon listening to their debut album, In Deep, I was reminded of a few contemporary bands ranging  from In This Moment to Halestorm, but don't compare them to those bands
 because they have many elements that push them ahead of the pack. 

The band started in 2012 and is made up of singer Tasha D, guitarist Mick Broome, and guitarist Az Stonely, and Matty Mulhearan on bass and Jordy Poynter on drums respectively. Their press release states they are influenced by everyone from Rise Against to Queens of the Stone Age, and also states they honed their sound opening up for everyone from Uriah Heep to Seether to Cherie Curie from the Runaways, so a diverse palette was to be expected.

The album starts with a bang with the song “So Lonely” and the song features a few progressive
riffs in an odd timing that create a slightly jarring impact that's very heavy and appealing. 
It has a few cool wah guitar solos and also has a part on vocals that don't sound too far removed from a certain Gwen Stefani.
The song “Say You're Mine” is even more metallic, and has a more energetic feel.
It's songs like this that really appealed to me, because at their core Smoking Martha seems to have a love for old school traditional rock and hard rock, and this is refreshing in a musical environment today that often times values novelty over substance, at least in the rock and metal scenes. 

Instead of impressing us with a bunch of out of place electronica influences, djent breakdowns, or whatever else, we have the emphasis on soulful rock, even if the production is somewhat grounded firmly in the modern age. That's not to say that this contradicts the previous claim of eclecticism, quite the contrary. But the eclecticism that is evident on such songs as Ebb of the Tide (an almost full on jazz part) comes off as having a natural feel and isn't being shoehorned in, which is unlike a lot of many modern bands in general. The closest the album gets to anything mechanized are some distorted vocal effects, which hearkens back to the Sixties anyway!

 The album breaks the pace with the ballad, “Baby Let Me Go” but that is only in preparation with my favorite song on the album, “Follow”. The song features the lounge-like, smokey vocals of Tasha over a slow bluesy backdrop that really stands out. It's songs like this and the next one, Find A Way, that I feel are the highlights of the album and where the band is also wearing their more classic rock influences on their sleeves.
“What's Her Name” follows and is similar to the earlier songs on the album, and then we have another highlight, “Stranger Things”. 
As song # 10, it is again back to the anthem like quality of the first songs on the album, and with it's lyrical exhalations like “We Fight!” you know you have a crowd singalong in the making.
Overall, it's cool to hear a band willing to both embrace the past and also stay rooted in the present enough to not sound retro, while pointing at the future. It'll be cool to see where Smoking Martha goes as they further develop and gain prominence.
If you're interested in checking out Smoking Martha, here are some relevant links:




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