Snuffed on Sight - Smoke Review

I met recently with one of my best buds growing up. We fell in love with metal together way back when, and though we live uncomfortably far from each other nowadays, we carve a date here and there. On this occasion, we sipped fancy craft beer, and established that the best way for him to choose an IPA for his dad as a gift for Father’s Day, he must find the IPA that he himself hates the most—such is taste. As our conversation turned musical, I opened my ever-spewing mouth to say “yeah, I’ve also been enjoying a lot more slam these days.” Big D bluntly replied “Oh, slam? I’m sorry.” Well folks, I’m not sorry today. A sorry man would spare you the green-fueled grooves of Snuffed on Sight, and that’s just not going to happen.

I know you probably already went and looked at the score, and you’ve asked yourself “but wait, isn’t slam just one big joke?” An exaggerated and uncouth sense of humor, which often borders plain dumb, slathers an overwhelming majority of slam releases, so it’s a fair assumption. In fact, artists and fans remain so addicted to this Simple Jack mode of riff-chuggery and song-length slamples that there’s an annual unofficial ‘slamuary’ release wave that kicks off the year.¹ True to the slam ethos, Snuffed on Sight fulfills the promise of proper slamples (“DTD”) and hosts a myriad of guest vocal spots.² Alas, in a genre defined by a predictable and low variation chord assembly that’s really just a K-hole breakdown, Snuffed on Sight puffs a heated, drop-tuned fatty with Smoke.

Hardcore at heart but with a low-end built for groove, the Snuffed on Sight quartet stumble forth with urgently lumbering songcraft. Much of the rhythmic success throughout Smoke comes through the limbs of Kendric DiStefano (Logistic Slaughter), whose efficient kit setup provides nimble snare blasts (“Time 2 Dip,” “Dummy”) and crowd-kill flare rimshots (“Repeat Offender,” “Slippin”), providing a pong-y panache and jagged, off-time flow. And fitting to this eclectic yet devastatingly smooth performance, both bassist Spencer Metala (Logistic Slaughter, The Offering) and guitarist Walid Gad (Soul Pain) slip and slide down their stringed extensions with a cadence that blends lingering Meshuggah stabs with a bouncing hardcore shuffle (“Repeat Offender,” “Dummy”). Gad too lays down choice high gain harmonics (every song), pinched bends (“Dummy,” “Smoke”) and copious but classy pick scrapes (“Slippin,” “Dummy”) to ensure no riff goes stale before it comes back bigger and slower for the genre-determined breakdown crescendo.

Smoke, after all, hooks with well-timed accents rather than flashy melodies or heroic lead work. Mic master Seven Kane’s porcine prowess—definitely not for all—should strike a delight in those searching for a certain kind of whole hog cacophony. Contrastingly, the Liquid Swords-esque cover art and the bass-y kickback of “(smoke break),” sees Snuffed on Sight drawing a certain urban, hip-hop swagger. The impact of Kane’s vocal choices in particular, devoid of any graspable meaning, rests solely in timing. And though GZA has plenty to say with his 90s classic, his undeniable, staggering attack holds just as important to each verse as the material itself. So too does Kane’s Larry Wang (Fatuous Rump, Facelift Deformation) tier chirping squeals (“Intro,” “Slippin”) and squirting beatbox assaults (“Time 2 Dip,” “D2D,” “Dummy,”). Whether Kane believes his own style comes off as limited or otherwise, he knows too that a well-placed guest can provide extra texture to the experience, like the tough guy hype of “Time 2 Dip” or the wild hardcore barking flurry on the “Smoke.” Slam is friendship.

While most every moment of Smoke’s fifteen-minute runtime oozes with an aggressive and sticky air, its brief hit leans more on wanting than I would hope. Snuffed on Sight provides an experience curated for a few heavy pipe hits, rather than a bowl packed for extended pleasure—admirable if not as ambitious as it could be. Perhaps this more than solid foundation for a ‘full-length’ debut will allow Snuffed on Sight to lay greater risk into pieces like “(smoke break)” or craft a couple more numbers as ravenous as “Repeat Offender” and “Dummy.” Even if Snuffed on Sight never swings for the fences quite that way, as long as they continue to slam, squeal, and find an undeniably sick groove in the process, they’ll have my booty movin’.