Smoke & Mirrors (Jeramie Kling & Taylor Nordberg) – 1 Song In 1 Day
Smoke & Mirrors Productions
Release Date: From 21/03/2020 to 09/04/2020
Running Time: 46:21
Review by Victor Augusto
8/10
You are probably tired of hearing about how all our lives have become a wreck in this insane year of 2020. Jobs, families, mental sanity…everything we’ve known has been damaged / changed and we could all write a book about it when this Covid 19 situation finishes, if it ever does finish someday. Inside this hurricane the music industry is also struggling, but if we try to look on the bright side (or, at the very least, the less dark side); this lockdown has changed how bands are promoting themselves without concerts. For many bands, they are working better (as they should have worked even before this chaos started) with interesting material offered to give their fans the possibility of delving more deeply into their work. The inspiration for composition and for the amount of new songs appearing every day is a very positive aspect of this trying time!
Among this inspiration, two crazy men (in a good way), Jeramie Kling (Venom Inc, Massacre, The Absence) and Taylor Nordberg (Massacre, The Absence) joined forces, at the Smoke & Mirrors Recording Studio that Jeramie owns and Taylor Works, to create something very unusual and unique. They composed 12 songs from all the genres you could imagine, from Heavy Rock n’ Roll up to the heaviest Black or Death Metal. So far, so good? But no! They did more than ‘just’ compose them! Each song was recorded with different guests and each was completed in ONE day. But no, not only recorded! The whole process of writing, recording and mixing each song was done in just one day!! Always on a Saturday, “Slam Saturday” as they were named. Of course, Jeramie and Taylor invited different guest musicians to fit each genre and well-known names from bands such as Savatage, Soilwork, Marduk, Grave, Northtale, Kreator, Heathen, Exodus and many more took part. Is that good or is that good?
Explaining each song for those of you reading this is not an easy task but let me try. ‘Eternal Unlight’ (the first song released) and ‘Grief Eater’ are in a Deicide style, but in ‘Chaos Has Told You To Suffer’ you can hear something more Black Metal. ‘Monsters We Hide’ surprised me with classic Heavy Metal sounds in a Judas Priest or Accept style, with great vocals from Marc Lopes (Ross The Boss). ‘The Echo Mirror’ is similar but owes more to Power Metal. The doom cadence of ‘Terror In The Shape Of Suns’ reminds me of Black Sabbath with Deidra Kling’s beautiful voice and ‘Drag Them to the Guillotine’ has a pure Cannibal Corpse influence.
Of course, Motörhead couldn’t be left out of this and ‘Stay Clean For Me’ is a perfect song that could figure alongside any of Lemmy’s work, this time with Mr. Tony Dolan from Venom Inc. on vocals. ‘Undefeated’ is fast and shows how a good Hardcore song should be, similar to what Hatebreed play and ‘Obliteration Now’ has the same inspiration, but it is more Thrash and Heavy Metal. ‘Dying Day’ is melodic Death Metal that totally reminded me of what Dark Tranquility do so well. The album finishes with ‘A Silent War’ which is pure Thrash Metal sounding like the 80’s Bay Area Thrash Metal bands, specifically 80’s Anthrax!
Considering the minimal time they had to write, record, mix and take care about all the details of each song, I can assure you that the results are brilliant. We don’t exactly have what sounds like a full album here, nor anything that has a singular identity, but what we do have is an album that sounds like a compilation of material from many bands that we know and love in many different genres
The main difference is that this sounds like a compilation of brand-new songs from all the bands I mentioned. Jeramie and Taylor have done an amazing job of creating an album that carries the spirit and the power of all those incredible old bands you know. Congratulations to them both and to all the guests who stamped their style on each song. It truly is a remarkable achievement.
TRACKLISTING:
01. Eternal Unlight
02. Grief Eater
03. Monsters We Hide
04. Terror In The Shape Of Suns
05. The Echo Mirror
06. Drag Them To The Guillotine
07. Stay Clean For Me
08. Chaos Has Told You To Suffer
09. Undefeated
10. Obliteration Now
11. Dying Day
12. A Silent War
LINKS:
www.smokeandmirrorsproductions.bandcamp.com/ (All tracks and line-ups)
www.facebook.com/SmokeAndMirrorsProductions/
www.facebook.com/KingofallKlings/
www.instagram.com/kingofallklings/
www.facebook.com/taylor.nordberg.1
www.instagram.com/uncle_teets/
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Victor Augusto and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.