Miasmics “You Just Gotta Trust It”

Album Reviews | Jul 30th, 2005

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Record Label: Homefront Records
Genre: Ska
Band Link:
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The Miasmics. Who the hell are they? Even I had never heard of them, but I have their CD and I have to review it. Was it worth it? Are they worth the listen? Well I took the disc to work to listen to the other day. And the verdict is…

After the first listen, I wasn’t too sure if I liked this band or not. The Miasmics have a ska/rock sound that’s just as heavy on the horns as it is on the guitar riff. The ska is more of the laidback style of trad-ska with some faster upstrokes mixed in on occasion. It’s really hard to categorize their sound because it jumps around all over the place from time to time. As I said before though, the ska is the most predominant sound on “You Just Gotta Trust It”. One minute you’re bobbing your head to a laid-back island beat, and the next you’re on your feet skanking around the coffee table.

After a good second listen, I find myself liking more and more of the album. There are quite a few songs that are sing-a-long worthy and quite a few humable parts. The change of pace throughout the album keeps things entertaining and you find yourself guessing as to what will be next for your little ears. I like the Miasmics because you just can’t put your finger on a similar sounding band right off the bat. Their sound is fresh in a world where most “ska” seem to rely heavy on punk music and super fast upstrokes. This band fills the gray area in between the fast stuff and the slower reggae sound with a little bit of funk and a little bit of rock with just a smidgen of the violin mixed in.

Now everything isn’t fine and dandy on this CD. A few of the things that I didn’t like on this album would have to be, number one: Some of the songs tend to just trail off at times. For instance, there will be an infectious ska groove going on, and out of nowhere, a jam session breaks out for a couple of minutes, in my mind taking the song nowhere. It’s like the band forget to write some lyrics for that part and just started playing whatever came to their mind at the time. It’s not so bad on the few occasions where this happens in the middle of a song because, after about thirty seconds the song picks up where it left off. When this happens at the end of the song, it just seems that something is missing. About the only other thing that I don’t like about this disc stems from my own personal opinion…the album opens with an instrumental song titled “Ska Bathroom”…and I hate instrumentals. Maybe that soured my first listen and I just couldn’t recover until a few days later. I’m fine now, thank you.

Bottom Line: I would have to say that, for anyone that is already into the ska scene and likes bands like Slow Gherkin, the Gadjits or Satori, then “You Just Gotta Trust It’ is something that you would like. The Miasmics sound isn’t for everyone. If you like your ska short, sweet, and fast, then stay away from the this record and leave the good stuff to the rest of us.
Notable Tracks: Trapped, Hell Froze Over, Dreamer, Slow Down
Overall Rating: