This CD is a dark delight.
At their best, Lies of Smiles (LOS) create distinctive hard metal that betrays a bitter core, couching perverse, apocalyptic lyrics in deceptively catchy compositions.
"Line of fire" is the blasting opener, a hammer-down chord riff that slams into a wildly discordant stutter chord break, before an anthemic hook line to die for and a guitar solo that will shear the top off your head. Add to this the totally unique, soulful sneer of Ian Gillson, snarling lyrics which obliquely refer to the moral decline of the human race and you've got the beginnings of LOS's trademark cryptic menace.
“New World Order” is heavy-metal bone-cruncher meant to be played while you're breaking the land-speed record on your Harley. Air-guitar specialists, on the other hand, will be sent into spasms by the dazzling speed and precision of the guitar solo.
An avalanche of sonic hysteria summons your attention, then it's full speed ahead into “Judas”, the ultimate betrayal has never been told this brutally and the bible was never this venomous in its condemnation, when Gillson snarls “your nothing but a Judas” you can feel the animosity, there’s no forgiveness, no turning the other cheek in the face of being nailed to a cross!
“Sins of the Father”, the fourth cataclysmic mind fuck in a row, pegged around religioso, incendiary lyrics. And with typical LOS aplomb, it's a dark and disturbing ride, rife with nightmarish religious pay back imagery. A symphonic experiment in leviathan rock, Gillson in fire and brimstone mode, “Why build Jerusalem?” not a question you’re asked by your standard metal band and you’d better have the answer!
Where could they go after that opening quartet, “In my dreams” alternates between Stygian balladry and epic ensemble rage, with a beautifully crafted guitar line, LOS go soft, nah it’s a brief interlude and we ain’t talking sugar ballad here, there’s a discernible sneer in Gillsons vocal delivery and muscle load in the big chorus, would you want to be in this mans dreams?
"Believe me" continues the LOS’s flirtation with all things (Semi) religious with a full anthemic dose of vocal Sturm and guitar Drang; Well do you believe?, because if you don’t LOS will make sure you do or else!
Ian “Gilly” Gillson snarls his way menacingly through "How I live my life”, “Tomorrow Never Comes” and “Perfect World”. Lyrically and musically muscular and maybe autobiographical, these feel personal lyrically, and this is one of the strengths of this band, you can connect with these venomous outpourings. But whatever inspiration Gillsons’ lyrical approach provides, the band transcends eccentric detail when it launches into various instrumental sections. Gillson & Little play dextrous and muscular guitars; no matter how fluid the lead lines are, they’re never free-flight solos but rather the cutting edges of arrangements.
Just when its getting too intense, too close to home, too personal, LOS give us “I Wanna Rock”, Gonzo, stripped down, dumb ass rock, tongue in cheek with a finger wave at all that’s pretentious about metal, monster riff that you feel you’ve heard somewhere before, your never quite sure when Gillson sings “I Wanna Rawk” if the jokes on us! True Brit humor.
“Summertime” cruises by, well constructed but never quite living up to the rest of the offerings, but muscular and melodic.
And then……….. Gillson lives up to his threat delivered in the opening four gun salvo and gives us "I am", on which the Gillson/Little partnership unleashes what has to be one of the best heavy-metal riffs since the explosion of the Hindenburg. Utilitarian riffage, bone-crushing chords and absolutely dizzying guitar lines, close this CD in classic style.
The most hardened metal purist will find Truth Lies and Damnation hard to resist because, even in this over saturated market of mediocrity, this is vintage heavy metal menace, mixed with evangelical fire and brimstone, sometimes introverted, sometimes painful in its stripped down, monochrome view of our society, a nightmare mosaic of brooding chorales, flame-thrower riffing and snappy crackling metal melody.
Armed with truckloads of skull-crushing chords and scalding lead-guitar lines, powerhouse, intelligent percussion and evangelical fire vocals, LOS at times here achieve the kind of intensity and rhythmic momentum that the wheelchair cases that represent British metal can only dream about.
Jessica Freeman
Sturmfront Magazine
