Dangerdog Music Reviews :: © 1999 - 2024 Craig S Hartranft :: All Rights Reserved
No part of this this website, including design and music reviews,
may be reproduced in any form or by any means without
the prior written permission of the publisher.
- New Music Reviews
- |
- Archives
- |
- News
- |
- Submissions
- |
- About
- |
- |
New Music Reviews, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Progressive Rock, Progressive Metal, AOR, Alternative Rock, Alternative Metal
Recent Reviews
April 2024
- War Grave: War Grave EP
- Six By Six: Beyond Shadowland
- Vanden Plas: The Empyrean Equation Of The Long Lost Things
- Praying Mantis: Defiance
- King Zebra: Between The Shadows
- About Us: Take A Piece
- Blue Oyster Cult: Ghost Stories
March 2024
- Cruzh: The Jungle Revolution
- Whom Gods Destroy: Insanium
- The Prog Collective: Dark Encounters
- Lords Of Black: Mechanics Of Predacity
- Lipz: Changing The Melody
- The End Machine: The Quantum Phase
- Stargate: Escaping The Illusion
- Turbulence: Binary Dream
- Sonata Arctica: Clear Cold Beyond
- D'Luna: Monster
- Big Big Train: The Likes Of Us
- Benjamin Croft: We Are Here To Help
February 2024
- Traveler: Prequel To Madness
- Lionheart: The Grace Of A Dragonfly
- Honeymoon Suite: Alive
- Durbin: Screaming Steel
- Smoking Snakes: Danger Zone
- Revolution Saints: Against The Winds
- Striker: Ultrapower
- Show N Tell: The Ritual Has Begun
- Robert Hart: Circus Life
January 2024
- Corvus: Immortals
- Caligula's Horse: Charcoal Grace
- Grand: Second To None
- Neal Morse: The Restoration - Joseph - Part Two
- The Rods: Rattle The Cage
- Gotus: Gotus
- Metalite: Expedition One
- Cobrakill: Serpent's Kiss
- Jack Russell & Tracii Guns: Medusa
- Jim Peterik & World Stage: Roots & Shoots Vol. 1
- The Grandmaster: Black Sun
Smith, Neal: KillSmith Two
Smith, Neal: KillSmith Two
Hard Rock/Heavy Metal
3.75/5.0
Neal Smith Music
Website
Facebook
by Craig Hartranft, 11.28.2011
Still kicking it old school is legendary Alice Cooper Group drummer Neal Smith. Recently inducted into the hall of fame with the Cooper crew, Smith returns with his second KillSmith solo project.
Above, Neal Smith accepts induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as Alice Cooper looks on.
Here are 12 songs that blur the lines of hard rock and metal, but also show Smith's proficient drumming and talent for solid song composition. While I could pass on several songs here, Smith and company show their rock chops on 2000 Miles from Detroit, Strip Down, and slap to the face of the mainstream music industry, Kiss My Rock. Owing more than a little to that early time with that auspicious and theatrical other group, Neal offers some creepy material with traditional metal, even doom-like, of Cemetery of the Dead and the dreadful statistics of Death by the Numbers. Yet, against this KillSmith Two also allows for more accessibility, even radio-friendly, play, especially on Die for the Night, a very melodic rocker. All this is conveyed through a minimal production which offers a rough and raw edge to the rock, another valuable old school technique.
Neal Smith's KillSmith Two offers both the grit and edge of early classic American hard rock, the foundation for which much of today's rock is dependent. Recommended.
Tweet
Note: All Amazon advertising in this review first benefits the artist, then Craig Hartranft also receives a residual. Click, and thanks for your support.
In Short
Neal Smith's KillSmith Two offers both the grit and edge of early classic American hard rock, the foundation for which much of today's rock is dependent. Recommended.
Find A Review
Alphabetical Index
New & Notable
Three years have passed since Sweden's Cruzh dropped their second long-player, Tropical Thunder, also introducing their new singer, Alex Waghorn. Now the band returns with The Jungle Revolution ... [ Read More ]