Smoke or Fire - 'This Sinking Ship'

Richmond, Va. transplant Smoke or Fire has been mostly ablaze in the last few years. The band signed to punk rock powerhouse Fat Wreck Chords in 2004, and then released its Fat debut, Above the City, in 2005. Above the City was a stunning album, merging punk rock vitriol with some Southern bar band sensibility. The group’s 2007 follow-up, This Sinking Ship, expands on Above the City’s promise with more bravado and better production.

This Sinking Ship’s opener, the energetic “What Separates Us All,” kicks things off right away. The band’s Hot Water Music-like style and sociopolitical beliefs are more focused on this track, as frontman Joe McMahon sings “So ask the pro-life, pro-war, right-wing Christian how their rationale makes sense/Should they decide whose children live or die/And whose rights we should defend?”

The righteous anger and self-determination McMahon spews forth on “What Separates Us All” is spread throughout the rest of This Sinking Ship. It would appear that the Fat budget has finally caught up with Smoke or Fire, resulting in a much cleaner, “Fat-sounding” record. There’s a larger dosage of pop mixed with the band’s punk, and the production by sound engineer Matt Allison allows the listener to make out each instrument. As great as Above the City was, it still sounded like crap — you couldn’t distinguish the drums from the bass from the guitars — so it’s nice to hear some more division between the band’s instruments. The album is cohesive, although it could use a bit more diversity. Above the City at least had the acoustic drinking song, “Cryin’ Shame,” to break up all of the louder punk tunes.

All the same, though, there’s no denying the quality of such post-hardcore/punk gems as “Life Imitating Art” or the title track. McMahon screams himself raw on these songs. But while these tunes are tough bar brawlers, McMahon is still a Springsteen-ian songwriter on the inside, and he fills each of This Sinking Ship’s 12 tracks with big, juicy choruses.

McMahon’s pop subconscious does dominate even more on a few tunes, though. The album's third track, “Melatonin,” could easily be the theme song for 2007’s Warped crowd. Punk has always thrived on an “us versus them” ethic, and McMahon taps into that with the song’s chorus: “It’s the world that has to change, not me/I’m fine with where I stand/These conversations are all about nothing/Forget these opinions they put in your head.” “Melatonin” is a pop-punk call-to-arms.

Smoke or Fire’s This Sinking Ship is a solid release. It follows the ’90s punk template laid out by such bands as Avail and Face to Face a little too closely at times, but at least it does it well.