Dirty Smiles
Pressures

Active since 2009 and with an EP under their belt, the Caserta rockers Dirty Smiles reach the fateful moment of taking the big step, namely the debut album, titled "Pressures." Their idea of rock draws its origins from the '90s, with a sound overall pleasant and the - often forced - pursuit of potential hits to offer to the public. The final result is rather strange: on one hand, we find a band that musically has some good ideas and the right motivation to believe in them, on the other, a voice and interpretation of the English language that definitely need revisiting, a sort of Achilles' heel, let's put it that way. I hope the band doesn't take offense - as this is fundamentally a personal judgment - but if the best episodes of the entire work turn out to be those where the choirs strengthen the vocal part, well, I have to ask myself a question about that. It might be the monotonous timbre or perhaps that feeling of being an odd one out compared to the sound department, but honestly, pronunciation and vocal interpretation seem rather subdued. The situation worsens in the two songs proposed in Italian ("La mia strada" and "Cuori freddi e teste calde"), something which, frankly, we could have done without. Venturing into an environment like rock is always very difficult, especially if you don’t have strong personalities within a line-up or something "trendy" to propose, so the risk is to feel out of place, as in this case. The foundations of this project could be found in the sound, a starting point on which to carefully evaluate future steps. At the moment, thumbs down.