The Supersuckers - The Smoke Of Hell LP - Red Vinyl (/2000)

Sub Pop (2024, Reissue)

The Supersuckers are a band that I discovered around the same time as I discovered Rocket From The Crypt and the two bands often seemed like they went hand in hand, at least to a certain segment of fans.  As the years have gone by, it's felt like that cross section of fans has gotten smaller and smaller.  I think that is at least in part because of how the two bands' catalogs diverged around the late 90s.  I always thought that The Supersuckers started to embrace their metal influences more than their punk ones.  At least for me, that was more than enough to make me less interested in their other albums.

But I really do still like a lot of the early Supersuckers material.  La Mano Cornuda was my introduction to The Supersuckers and that album along with The Sacrilicious Sounds of... are the two of theirs that I always dug the most.  I never had The Smoke of Hell or The Songs All Sound The Same compilation album, but a buddy of mine in high school did.  So while I heard them back then, I then went decades without hearing them again.

I was excited when Sub Pop finally rereleased The Smoke of Hell.  Here was my chance to add the vinyl to my collection without paying the collectors prices that the original pressing of the album had been going for.  This version is on red vinyl and is a somewhat limited reissue with 2000 copies pressed.

All these years later, I think I see some of the things that I don't like about The Supersuckers more than I did back then.  Again, those pesky metal influences are there and while maybe they are sharing the bill with a louder, riff based punk sound..they are still there.  No aspect of metal has ever been anything I've been interested in, so for me, The Supersuckers are at their best when they're just barrelling ahead with simpler chord progressions and the catchy hook in the chorus.  I'm sure a lot of folks would argue about how catchy some of these songs are, but these guys have always known how to write a pop hook, they often just bury it under a cloud of whiskey and attitude.

Again, I'm happy to finally add this to the collection.  While it's not my favorite Supersuckers release, there's plenty of good stuff on it.  I'm still debating on whether or not I need to hunt down a copy of The Songs Still Sound The Same or not.  That one kind of completed the quadrilogy of the Supersuckers albums that I have interest in.

The Supersuckers - The Smoke Of Hell:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mCWoW4jMnbefNh13LkZKsLmsO9q8CTSWY