EP REVIEW: FIVE MILE SMILE – The Truth About Dogs And Wolves

Shane | 28 March 2018 | Reply

EP REVIEW: FIVE MILE SMILE – The Truth About Dogs And Wolves
Independent
2018
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
8.5/10

Five Mile Smile hail from Belfast, Northern Ireland, where they worked as a trio between 2000 and 2003. Reuniting in 2014 – first through Facebook, then for fun, then more seriously – they trimmed down to a raucous two-piece, and this EP collects tracks recorded here and there since then.

The duo (Ross on guitar and vocals and most of the bass – former bass player Connor plays on one track, and drummer Brian Finlay) launch themselves into Brawlin’ In Belfast with a bare knuckle fighter’s swagger and the flailing fists to match.

There’s a je ne sais quoi about 5MS which brings to mind another Belfast heavyweight champ, Jim Lyttle’s Rogue Male – though these guys are more garage to Rogue Male’s metal, mind. Maybe it’s in the barefaced aggression, or the chanted choruses, or the shared Thin Lizzy/AC/DC heritage… there’s something there.

Like a belligerent White Stripes fresh from a long day and night at the pub, Beg, Borrow Or Steal and Working Man are blue collar authentic, raw and caustic and as real as it fuckin’ gets. Guitar snarls, vocals sneer, drums are unflinchingly, unpretentiously rock steady.

Drinkin’ All Day inexplicably opens with a vintage cigarette jingle before becoming a swaggering beast that’s half Motorhead, half Hanoi Rocks, all attitude and spittle.

Touch The Lightning sounds like it was recorded AFTER drinkin’ all day – but hey, I like that (as if you haven’t guessed already.)

The Truth About Dos And Wolves ain’t pretty, but damn, it’s good. The only thing I didn’t get from it was any further enlightenment about our four-legged friends.