A wise man once sang, “people change/but you know some people
never do.” The paradox of Oh Sees has always been that they're
always the same
and they're always changing. What this means
is that you may go on a two or three album stretch without one you
thoroughly enjoy. You may wish they'd return to certain styles that
were more prevalent on previous records. You may also ride the waves
and change with them, getting at least
something out
of every release. And you may find yourself in a beautiful house,
with a beautiful wife, and you may...whoops, sorry. Couldn't help
myself. Let's talk about Smote Reverser.
Unleashed from the depths on
August 17th,
2018, Smote Reverser
was the true beginning of the band steering into heavier prog rock,
metal, and jam band influences. It showcased the core modern-era
foursome of John Dwyer, Paul Quattrone, Dan Rincon, and Tim Hellman,
supplemented by (soon to join as a full time member) Tomas Dolas on
keyboards, vocals from Brigid Dawson, and um...'marching boots' by
recording engineers Enrique Tena Padilla and Mario Ramirez. There is
a credit given to Heather Lockie of 'sampled viola' on 'Last Peace',
though I'm not sure if this means it's a sample taken from a
recording she did or if they had her play in the studio and sampled
that. I'm not familiar with her credited groups on Discogs though her
website reveals she's a multi-discipline artist and creator, so big
ups to her. Anyway, hardcore completionists and/or record collectors
will have their hands full with this album, as it saw four different
color variants in addition to the basic black edition. Now, I know
not everybody is a fan of the cover art but I think it's dope as
hell. I would totally put it on the side of my van. I was psyched
when the creature reappeared in the 'Poisoned Stones' music video.
It's worth noting that the artist behind the cover, Matt Stawicki, is
a longtime fantasy/scifi artist, who has done a ton of book covers as
well as (of great personal interest to me) a couple Magic: The
Gathering cards.
Smote Reverser is an
interesting album to end this retrospective series on, for a number
of reasons. First, from reading/watching reviews and forum posts, it
seems to be a very divisive record. It has a fairly even split
between people who think it's one of the Oh Sees's best and started
them in a great new direction and people who think it's overly
indulgent and has more bad songs than good. Second, I'm sure people
are wondering why I'm not also doing Face Stabber,
which is a valid question. As stated in the previous retrospective,
my opinion of it hasn't change since I wrote my initial review, and
since I have nothing new to say about it seven months later, there
isn't much point. Lastly, it's an interesting one to end on because
Smote Reverser is one
of the releases that my opinion changed the most about since I first
heard it. You might say I was smitten and then it was reversed.
Sorry, I know, that was really
reaching. Let's dig in.
The first couple listens, I loved it and thought it was a
masterpiece. I understood the complaints by people who didn't like
it, though I chalked that up to the fact that they didn't vibe with
the direction Oh Sees were going in. As time has gone on, though, I
see
Smote Reverser as
more of a mixed bag that averages out to 'merely good.' I quite like
some tracks, while others are either underdeveloped or overbaked. We
may as well start with 'Anthemic Aggressor', since at twelve minutes
long it's the most remarkable track on the record. And I mean
“remarkable” in the literal sense, that there's a lot to remark
about. Now, I don't dislike 'Anthemic Aggressor' because it's so
long. I'm on record as a huge fan of jam bands like Phish improvising
for twenty minutes or more, and I'm a founding member of U.H.B.:
United 'Henchlock' Boosters. No, to me 'Anthemic Aggressor' is bad
because it's simultaneously underdeveloped
and overbaked. It's
essentially just an instrumental jam session that isn't particularly
good. The soloing is often dull and uninspired, and some of
the sounds are grating and atonal in a bad away. You can find much
better examples on
Face Stabber
and previously released live albums/tracks of this sort of improv. I
also feel like the musical bedrock of the track is one of the weaker
repetitive riffs/vamps Oh Sees have ever done. The drumming is
spastic, and not in a
good way, and the bass is so simplistic it's dull as unpolished shit.
I feel like some of the issues I had with 'Warm Slime' are present
here, though I'll remind you, I actually like
'Warm Slime', and I almost always skip 'Anthemic Aggressor' when I
put the album on. While I'm throwing shade, allow me to darken the
doorsteps of 'Enrique El Cobrador' and 'Nail House Needle Boys', two
tracks that are pretty weak and forgettable. The latter features a
drum/percussion break that is so mundane it almost has to
be a joke.
The borderline-frustrating thing
about Smote Reverser
is that there's also a lot to love, things I want to take out of the
shade and to hold up so they can shine in the sunlight. Overall I'm
excited by the new metal/prog/jam band direction that Smote
Reverser sailed toward. I also
delight in Tomas Dolas; he brings a lot to the table and I'm glad he
joined full-time after this album. I appreciate how prevalent
keyboards have become in the current Oh Sees sound. More importantly,
Smote Reverser has
some of the band's best material. 'Beat Quest' is a fantastic closing
song, emphasizing the dual drummers throughout its runtime and making
for a much better drum showcase than the weak breakdown in 'Nail
House Needle Boys.' Also have to give some love for the gooey
keyboard/synths around the 2:45 mark, as well as how the track starts
out melancholy and develops into a jubilant organ-led ending. The
other bookend of the record, 'Sentient Oona', perfectly sets the
atmosphere for the songs to come, with some great “ooh ooooh”
backing vocals from Brigid Dawson and a whipsnap entry into the main
riff before it cools down again. 'C', meanwhile, is like Red
Lobster's Lobsterfest for people who love crunchy and boogie-ing
70s-inspired guitarwork. Perhaps the biggest surprise is
'Overthrown', which just stabs
your face with its
heaviness. Unless you have epilepsy, I highly recommend the video for
'Overthrown', especially with the lights off, and especially if
you're enjoying some psychoactive substances.
Weak songs aside, I suspect I
would still enjoy Smote Reverser
as much as I did on first listen if Face Stabber
didn't exist. It's hard not to look back on it as a warmup for Face
Stabber. To me it does most of
what this album does well
and does it even better.
I'm not at all saying Smote Reverser is
retroactively irrelevant or not worth a listen. I have my issues with
it, sure, but I still listen to it on a somewhat regular basis when
I'm in the mood for Oh Sees. It's totally valid not to share the
opinion that Face Stabber
is a better version of Smote Reverser;
it's got some really strong highlights as I discussed in the previous
paragraph. The best comparison I can think of is that Smote
Reverser is like taking several
different food items from different cuisines and mixing them all
together, whereas Face Stabber
is like a carefully planned five course meal. It just has so much
more variety in sounds and textures and ideas, and all of it works
well together and flows nicely. Smote Reverser
doesn't flow well, it's more of a stock market graph with ups and
downs, screams and laughs.
Kind of like this retrospective series,
really.
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