Album Review: Don't Waste Your Anger by The Smith Street Band

Release Date: April 17 2020

After a 3 year break and adding a new member, this is The Smith Street Band’s 5th Album. They’ve decided to go conceptual on this one, tracking one half of a breakup and the aftermath. The first three songs show the initial anger and confusion. The 4th song sounds like a complete mental reset for the protagonist. Song 5 and onwards describes the acceptance of change and the personal growth that comes from it. I’m not really the hugest Smith Street fan, I think their over dramatic shouty songs can come across as inauthentic. But even I could appreciate the emotion and anguish, that was real (Wil the Lead Singer going through a real break up), on songs like “I still dream about you”, “Big Smoke” and the heartbreaking, passive “It’s OK”. I thought a lot of songs here sounded like one another and the only real deviation was “It’s OK”. This made the album a bit boring on the last few songs. But the definite highlight was the expression of emotion through lyrics and vocal. This is like if the “Mr. Brightside” chorus was a whole album, I think that’s the best way to describe it.

Favourite Songs: I Still Dream About You, It's OK, Heaven Eleven

Score: 6.5/10

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