Wicked Smile is a metal & rock band from Australia formed in 2019, to date releasing one album – ‘Wait For The Night’ (2021), and two E.P.s – ‘Delirium’ (2020) and ‘Night Time Riders’ (2023).
Two years after the band’s emphatic debut full-length album, Australian rising rock stars Wicked Smile returns to deliver more fist-pumping heavy rock! Actually, make that fist-pumping rock and metal – for the band’s new E.P. is much more metal-edged than (their 2021 album) ‘Wait For The Night’. Featuring four songs in sixteen thrilling minutes, the band are on fire, the E.P.’s opener (and title song) ‘Night Time Riders’ exploding into life with a barrage of bombastic metal! I say metal, because it’s definitely more metal than rock, perfectly echoing the old-school sound of the eighties when almost everyone was labelled as metal – even the likes of Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Kiss and Whitesnake! The oomph and energy of ‘Night Time Riders’ (the song) is emphatic, making listeners sit up and take notice of a band delivering the goods!
Influenced by legendary bands such as Dio, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Skid Row, the Australian outfit roars on with ‘Edge Of Madness’ – a rougher, tougher, and gruffer song than the E.P.’s opener, yet with a much melodious and sing a long-able chorus that every listener, fan, follower and concert goer will eagerly join in with. And after just two songs, the tempo and energy levels are phenomenal – fingers crossed they remain high for the next two songs! And I needn’t have worried in the slightest, the band actually increasing tempo and energy – ‘Never Surrender’ taking off like Olympic sprinters going for gold! Wicked Smile is perfectly merging every nuance and trait of both the heavy metal and hard rock genres to create a sound that is big, bold, bombastic and overly infectious – all four songs on offer are the stuff of stadium anthems!
And it’s a real shame there are only four songs on offer, ’cause this has been one helluva ride – but as I’ve always said, the repeat button has a purpose and was invented for times just like this! Closing the E.P. ‘Scream N Shout’ is a rabble-rousing call to arms anthem that everyone is gonna love – there’s absolutely no reason why not! ‘Scream N Shout’ is energetic, delivered at a high tempo with tonnes of oomph and headbang ability – so “scream n shout, scream n shout, raise your fists and let it out” and have a fucking great time listening to ‘Night Time Riders’ E.P. time and time again!
Overall, a bombastic barrage of infectious metal and rock, Wicked Smile has delivered a feel-good foursome with incredible charisma.
TRACKLIST
Night Time Riders
Edge Of Madness
Never Surrender
Scream N Shout
Wicked Smile: Facebook
Release Year: 2023
Label: self-released
Category: EP
Country: Australia
Reviewed by Iron Mathew for Frenzy Fire and Metal-Roos.
