Smoke
Smoke follows beauty (CD) 2002 Kozmik
Ok, I have a confession to make. I would be lying if I would say that I became very enthusiastic when I saw this album with the drawing of a naked chick on the front cover in my mailbox together with a band picture including, among two other stoned fellows, a black guy with a huge afro haircut. Slowly, a painful realisation struck me, while my face became black and my eyes stared wildly towards infinity: this is stoner rock, my friends. When I got over my initial shock, I had to admit that the album isn't bad at all. Something like Sabbath on speed, it contains some nicely groovy solo's and riffs, stoned vocals and drums full of energy and power. No desolate atmospheres here, no painful depression, just uplifting, spaced out song structures, up tempo tracks and a clean (although somewhat sterile) production. I'm sure that many an old-school rock 'n roll freak shall dig this album and I advice the stoner junkies to check it out. But there is one thing bothering me. While listening to such albums, the same question always pops up in my mind: "why, oh why?" Why making another interpretation of Sabbath if you already have, besides the masters themselves, bands like Sleep, Trouble and St. Vitus? Why playing over and over again songs that sound like covers of the same old holy cows of rock 'n roll (not necessarily only Black Sabbath, I'm willing to accept that this band uses some other sources of inspiration as well) when you know in advance that you will never be able to reach the same levels of creativity and passion as the masters you are trying to copy? Agreed, some of those bands have proven to be huge cows, but how long more can you keep milking them? After all these years, the milk starts having a more and more sour taste; it's time to buy some fresh one. Smoke follows beauty together with its stoner audience, but I would advice them to follow the path of originality for a change. Band contact: kozmikrecords@hotmail.com Band Site: www.smoke-rock.com	1. Intro 2. Here it comes 3. Splitfire 4. Devil down 5. Hallucination 6. The mark of brahm 7. Black bat 8. Mina's song 9. Caveman 10. Redux Approx. 53 minutes
Reviewed by: Kostas Panagiotou