lockjaw smile - Darkest Before The Dawn

Lockjaw Smile

Darkest Before The Dawn
self-released; 2013

3.5 out of 5

By Eva Cantillo

Lockjaw Smile is your contemporary presentation of pop-rock music. There is soul, a bit of funk and definitely raw rock influences within their latest album Darkest Before The Dawn. The four-piece band hails from Salem, Massachusetts and their sound is somewhat reminiscent of classic rock from Jimi Hendrix and more contemporary examples like Band of Skulls, The Black Keys, and even the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

The opening track is quite a fun one to listen to. “Sweet Sugar Baby” is the perfect combination of gritty soul-rock and sing-along pop music. Anyone can fall in love with the style of guitars and the steady drumming in the background. The delivery of vocals from the lead vocalist adds an air of authenticity and gives a vintage-esque vibe to the song.  The next track “Underdog Champion” is a song that emits a great deal of passion. From the beginning, you can feel the honesty in the melody and the lyrics. Towards the middle of the song there is a sweet bridge where the guitars and drums really get a chance to showcase their skills resulting in an epic crescendo of instrumental sound.

“Lucid Love” makes me imagine a bunch of flower-power hippies frolicking in a field while this song is playing in the background. The song is positive in the light of love but there seems to be so much passion within the relationship that they cannot even breathe without each other; “Please give me all your time I did this all because of Lucid love, holding so tightly on.”

Lockjaw Smile has quite a lot to offer to its audiences and I can only imagine how much fun it is to see them perform live. The quality of the album is not perfect and could be improved a bit, but nothing gets in the way of enjoying the pure sound emitted by the band. Their album, Darkest Before The Dawn gives anyone into rock and blues-rock a chance to get away and just jam out.

reverbnation

itunes