Hot Mass – Happy, Smiling And Living The Dream

Hot Mass have released this their sophomore album after what I believe was 8 years, the previous outing Nervous Tensions although may have been guilty of being a little on the repetitive side throughout, it did what all good pop punk should do, it shrugged off the chains of the genre that were created by bands of the mainstream.

So where do this band from Swansea stand now with this twelve song album with a wonderfully satirical title, ‘Happy, Smiling And Living The Dream’, especially given this overwhelming day and age of world leadership and elitist lifestyle.  on first listen there are so many more twists and turns in this album than it felt like in the previous offering, but then growing and learning is always a good start. From a heavy pop punk, to a mix of the afore mentioned and a huge slab of indie thrown in to add that edge of angst into the Hot Mass sound I’d say.

The second song is is where I felt like the change in this album hit home, ‘Lung Capacity’ has its fair share of The Copyrights sound, but it also draws on some pretty hard edged vocal and hangs out there with The Mezingers at their rawest, which is for Hot Mass a massive positive.

Throughout this twelve track attack on the ear drums, your always aware of where this band is, yet they also have take a little more time to fill in the gaps with some life moments and added atmosphere, take ‘A Literal Century’ as a point, it’s moody start seems to say so much about the mood this century has edge towards in the last decade, and builds to a full on attack on your imagination, not at all Pop, this is punctuated by the pretty hard to figure out ‘The Dissonant Four’ (or should that be fourth, is what came to mind, far too deep for me), which shows so much more than superficial, but still relevant thoughts, life that lacks harmony can be so difficult to navigate, musically it gets better the more you listen too. 

Hot Mass have kind of reached what I would call a lack of hiatus here, this album feels more like they stood at the edge of sheer cliff, they either took a step back and carried on safely, or they stepped off and into a screaming free-fall of excitement, so glad they chose the death by adventure.

There is so much more to this album than the previous that takes the bull by the horns, it may put some off, but it will take along the brave and drag many more in to the mosh pit.

‘Shine On’ uses a riff driven melody to drive it along, ‘Who’s Who’ feels like your in a spin dryer on acid, and ‘Ungakhali’ shows the passion and life that fills the whole album and it spills out right at the end, “Don’t Cry”

Be careful not to wander around this album too slowly, you might find yourself sucked in and thrown out the other end feeling wasted. 

Head on over to the bands Website for all info on this album out now.

You can also find them and all their links via FACEBOOK