If you’ve not seen Demon Smiles play at some point in the last year or so you’ve probably been living under a rock. The band have a brutal touring schedule and have played alongside most of the rest of the UK punk community at some point, as well as branching out into European festivals. If you’ve seen them recently you’ll have noticed things have changed line-up wise and their new record ‘AMPED’ is the first set of songs they’ve produced since these changes.
Demon Smiles are a proudly female fronted skatepunk/melodic hardcore band and the new changes in line up have put powerful female vocals up front and centre and removed the tuneless growling that never added much to earlier offerings. Also on display are much more technical and tighter guitars and faster more competent drums. All in all it feels like a complete package that took all the potential shown previously and ratchets everything up to the max.
Demon Smiles signature song writing style is one of extreme honesty. Songs are based on real life events such as the bands breakup with previous members (Penny For The Wise) or about being harassed on the street (Keys).
Being female-fronted in a melodic hardcore landscape that is almost entirely male dominated has made Demon Smiles into something of a flagship band for feminism in punk rock, and this message of equality and intolerance for the red pill brigade is prevalent throughout. If you complained about the latest FIFA game or the subtext of Mad Max then you will definitely want to avoid this. However if you believe in gender equality and love fast paced frenetic music then this is a must buy.
DAN PETERS