Smeer is a Canadian 4-piece with a 6-year history, and their music is somewhere between hard rock and metal. It is a natural progression of the Seattle grunge sound that graduated to nu-metal, and maintains elements of both.
The first impression was the similarity to Nirvana. The vocal style, in particular, is essentially a more audible, enunciated, but still angt-ridden Cobain. Then you start hearing references ranging from Pearl Jam and Alice In Chains, through Godsmack, Nickelback, Disturbed, Soundgarden and particularly, Creed. And finally you realize that the metal references are in the crunchy, heavy, de-tuned Metallica-inspired riffs.
Listen for music that is melodic but hard, raw and emotional. Good melodies are carried by the vocals, and the instrumentation is essentially unimaginative and heavy but well matched to each song. Standout track is the uncharacteristically slow, ballad-like "Seed", and there is little variety among the rest of the songs. They are all well executed, well produced and essentially similar, and the ¾-hour album comprises 11 tracks of close to four radio-friendly minutes a piece. The solos are rare and short, with the whole thing being driven instead by power chords and the occasional welcome acoustic guitar.
There's nothing progressive about Loud And Clear, and it doesn't fit comfortably in the metal category either, but the grungy simple Metallica-meets-Nirvana sound has very good commercial potential and will win many fans.
Track Listing:
- What Else Can I Do
- Digging
- Mother
- Your Time
- Condemned
- Flying Blind
- Creepy
- Disease
- Afraid
- My World
- Seed
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