The Speakeasy builds on the strengths of Smoke or Fire’s previous full length The Sinking Ship and tops it by adding the little extra pop that was missing before. The catchy, political discontent starts right away from the lead off track “Integrity” and holds sway with its melodic punk all the way to the closer “Utah.” Actually, there’s one stumble and that’s the acoustic track “Honey I Was Right about the War.” While I understand the song’s sentiment of “I told you so,” it comes off mostly as arrogant. If I was dating the dude, I don’t think I would be changing my politics so much as punching him in the nuts. That aside, the rest of the album really is aces. –Adrian (Fat)