SSM (CD)

"From their absurd blacklight sci-fi album art to their acronymous band name (ELP, anyone?), (John) Szymanski, (Dave) Shettler and (Keith) Morris are a supergroup thoroughly conscious of their status as such. Everything about this self-titled debut is bigger and more exaggerated than the sum of SSM's parts, right down to epic nine-minute closing jam "The Seer." But what keeps this power trio from descending into bloated self-parody is the ability of each member to take the modi operandi of their more well-established "day jobs," and coax them into exciting new directions. Sure, the Farfisa-driven Nuggets raunch of Szymanski's Hentchmen is all over tracks like "Exit Strategy," "Ain't Love," and "Candy Loving"; but hotwired to Cyril Lords frontman Morris' heavy guitar licks and some double-team percussion courtesy of ex-Sights drummer Shettler and the band's secret weapon, a vintage drum machine, it's a whole new beast - one which threatens to breathe some much-needed new life into that rickety bandwagon we call "Detroit garage."(...) if Brendan Benson is right and the Raconteurs' record can be considered the Rust Belt's answer to Nevermind, then SSM's debut must be Bleach: raw, ragged, crackling with potential; maybe a little too murky for its own good on occasion, but by and large a harbinger of great things to come. As for its relevance to the transitional scene from which it hails, well, this is as solid evidence as any that Detroit's garage cognoscenti need not hang up their white belts yet. Strap on your space helmets, kids: this is Garage Rock 2.0." - Zach Hoskins/Blogcritics"SSM's self-titled debut has many hallmarks of past and present Motor City garage rock, sounding at times like the love child of the MC5 and the White Stripes. Morris' unhinged, bordering-on-chaos guitar thunder is matched by Shettler's wall-of-sound drumming, with the ace in the hole coming from Szymanski's old-school, analog keyboards. It's as if ? & the Mysterians had walked in on a session with Iggy & the Stooges, a happy collision between pop and hard rock, melody and noise. Shettler's use of programmed percussion on such songs as "Ain't Love," "2012" and "Put Me In" is also refreshing, helping to steer the band away from cliche and toward the realm of the arty and unpredictable. Among the many high points are "Sick," which has the stomp and bluster of early Alice Cooper, and "Viking's Daughter," which starts with a relentless groove and then takes some unexpected twists and turns. SSM's debut album is anything but cookie-cutter Detroit rock, its tangle of unexpected moments and blend of guts and brains making it truly memorable." - Martin Bandyke/Detroit Free Press

• Format: CD
• Genre: Rock