Jeeezuz, where the hell did all the new Goth/Industrial music go? It certainly isn’t here on this CD. I had grave doubts about even listening to it after I read the band’s promo. Any artist who actually says in their one-sheet "... is ready to be the next big music sensation." Should be avoided like the plague. Smokescreen claims to be an "experimental" alternative rock band. I don’t hear any experimentin’. The songs are about as forgettable as the next band, average sound, average vocals, average songwriting, nothing in particular to stand out. (Hey, maybe they WILL become the next big thing!) Just what modern college kids need, another alterna-rock outfit to fill the void of their pathetically empty lives. Well, I’m not buying that. Smokescreen seems to be led by the Holwerda brothers of Phoenix, AZ. Gus Holwerda (the lead vocalist) sports a bald pate in the Michael Stipe tradition and I think Luke Holwerda (lead guitaist) is guy with the sunglasses and goatee. Together they seem like they’re trying hard to keep the R.E.M. tradition alive. Kinda Counting Crows, Goo Goo Dolls, Matchbox 20, et al. I’m sure there’s some big-name band out there they sound a LOT like, and that’s the problem. Even in the alterna-rock world, there needs to be at least something that defines a band’s sound. Unfortunately, Smokescreen is an amalgam of all of them. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if they got a song on a movie or TV soundtrack, and that’s all they’d need to be the next flavor of the week. Pass on this one. It just doesn’t fit Chain D.L.K.’s musical oeuvre in any way, shape or form.