With their debut album clocking in at just under 16 minutes and featuring a title track that’s just 11 seconds long, Hull-based hardcore newcomers Smiling Assassin are here for a good time, not a long time. As the short runtime suggests, the record is incredibly pacy, and has a fairly traditional hardcore sound – with a few dashes of skate punk and even ska thrown in for good measure. Throughout ‘Plight of the Millennial’ the band radiate confidence, defying their relative inexperience as a recording unit. The vocal delivery has a real swagger to it and the choruses are fun and catchy, while the instrumentation never fails to get your head banging. If hardcore is your genre of choice, this record is well worth your time.
The album opens with ‘Prologue’, an intro track that features someone speaking about issues faced by millennials through a megaphone over the top of a riotous sounding backdrop. Tongue firmly planted in cheek, the speaker rails against the double standards members of the older generation getting annoyed at the existence of vegan sausage rolls while simultaneously calling young people ‘snowflakes’. The following track, ‘Plight of the Millennial’, is an 11 second burst of energy, culminating in a cry of “f*cked up”. The first time you hear it, it’s an entertaining surprise, though it does lose its novelty on repeat listens.
‘Psycho-Apathy’ kicks in with a stabbing riff, before giving way to hectic hardcore that frequently changes pace from quick and unrelenting to slow and groovy. The lyrics on this track are the first – but not the last – to bluntly address mental health struggles. While the sonics match the playful nature of the opening tracks, the lyrics address front man George Garnett’s anxiety and lack of motivation. The song also features a slow, crushing breakdown right at the end, which is the heaviest moment on the record, and one that pit fiends are going to adore.
The album’s first single ‘Coping’ revisits similar lyrical themes over the backdrop of a two minute burst of fun, bouncy harcore. The words deal with Garnett’s use of alcohol and isolation as coping mechanisms to deal with his mental health struggles as he sings ‘I’ve been feeling kinda sh*t lately and I’m not sure how to cope / So I’ll have a lot to drink and fabricate some hope’. While this song is thematically introspective and serious, the music is joyous, and will no doubt get bodies flying in the pit when this song is played live.
Smiling Assassin show off their ability to surprise on the track ‘News Corp. Monopoly’, which melds their brand of hardcore with ska. The introduction of ska is a pleasant surprise, and shows that they have a few different tricks up their sleeve to keep listeners on their toes. It will be interesting to see if Smiling Assassin choose to lean into this sound more heavily on future releases – or even experiment with other genres entirely – as it works really well. Meanwhile, the lyrics continue the political theme laid out in the opening track by taking aim at Rupert Murdoch and his media company News Corp, which owns newspapers The Sun and The Times.
Second single ‘National Pride’ continues this more topical theme, criticising people who use patriotism as a justification for xenophobic views as the vocalist screams. ‘Think you’re special just because you were born on different soil / So you try your best to estrange yourself from the rest of the world’. The instrumentation on this track is outstanding, with the guitars and drums leading the sonic attack on your ears, while the gang vocal chanting will make you want to fist pump in your living room. This song is the best on the record, and will no doubt be electric in a live environment.
With ‘Plight of the Millennial’, Smiling Assassin have got a debut record under their belt that boldly showcases their pacy hardcore sound. They’ve shown that they are confident, fun, and capable of exploiting the element of surprise, not least with the tantalising glimpse of ska on ‘News Corp. Monopoly’. But whether they decide to experiment, lean further into that ska style, or stick to the traditional hardcore sound they’ve laid out here, we can’t wait to see what they do next.
ASH BEBBINGTON