After more than 45 years, the American punk band X thinks it’s enough enough, but leaves with a bang, because their supposed swan song “Smoke & Fiction” has become a fresh, energetic and inspired sounding album. There aren’t many bands that were founded at the end of the 70s and still sound this energetic. The punk band X does it on the album “Smoke & Fiction” which, according to the band itself, is really the very last album. After all these years, the band is still loyal to punk. “Smoke & Fiction” contains mainly energetic and punky songs, which are rushed through at a brisk pace. However, the members of the band can play and the vocals on the album are also excellent. The punk of X sounds wonderfully melodic and pushes the boundaries here and there by adding a touch of Americana, but “Smoke & Fiction” also definitely deserves the predicate punk. It provides a beautiful and dignified farewell.
X was founded in 1977 and can be counted as one of the standard-bearers of the Los Angeles punk scene. The band was formed when bassist, singer and songwriter John Doe (real name: John Nommensen Duchac) had become acquainted with the New York punk scene in general and the music of The Ramones in particular and wanted to make this kind of music himself.
He found allies in guitarist Billy Zoom (real name: Ty Kindell) and singer Exene Cervenka (real name: Christine Cervenkova). The band wore out a number of drummers, until in 1978 D.J. Bonebrake appeared and the ultimate line-up of X was a fact. The band has made quite a few albums.
X’s farewell party, released its very last album this week. “Smoke & Fiction” received remarkably good reviews, especially in the United States, The members of X have now reached retirement age, but still sound surprisingly fresh on their band’s new album. “Smoke & Fiction” opens with a lot of energy and everything you expect from punk, The rhythm section pounds away nicely, the guitar riffs are simple but accurate and the vocals are nice and rough and energetic, but compared to the bands from the early days of punk, both the music and the vocals on X’s album sound a bit better. The punky songs of the band are raw, but also remarkably melodic and this also applies to the vocals of John Doe and Exene Cervenka that complement and reinforce each other in a beautiful way.
The members of the band may be quite old by now, but that is not to be heard on “Smoke & Fiction”, which sounds fresh and inspired for ten songs. After half an hour it’s over, but in that half hour your mood and your energy level get a big boost.
The love for the music of The Ramones is still audible in X’s songs, but the band from Los Angeles is now doing its own thing with the influences from the past and therefore sounds a lot more versatile than the great examples of yesteryear.
The Fat Angel Sings 