Skindred’s eighth album begins with the sort of sonic blast you’d expect from a band making their debut on Earache Records, a label synonymous with noisy acts such as horror punks Misfits or Singaporean grindcore group Wormrot. Opener Our Religion sounds like a ragga Metallica and – sci-fi effects aside – is the sort of riff-laden festival-friendly anthem that has earned the Wales four-piece a hefty following at the heavier end of British music.
Within minutes, however, at the opposite end of the musical spectrum comes LOVE (Smile Please), a gloriously sunny banger just perfect for blasting out at barbecues, from open-topped cars and at Notting Hill carnival. With its skanking beat, parping horns and joyful, earworm lyrics (“I’ve got sunshine when it’s raining / I’ve got blessing when it’s pouring”), it’s a classic summer anthem in the lineage of the Piranhas’ cover of Tom Hark, Aswad’s crossover smash Don’t Turn Around or Bad Manners’ barmily infectious ska revival hits. It beggars belief that two such disparate songs can appear minutes apart on the same album, but it isn’t untypical of this band who debuted the bouncy anthem at last year’s Download metal festival yet have topped the US reggae charts.
