While the post-punk revival of recent years has mainly been defined by British bands, a quintet from Cologne is now breaking the rule. With hardly a tired smile left for hypes of any colour, SMILE create a sound that channels yesterday to arrive in tomorrow - song by song. Last year saw the release of "Price Of Progress", a debut album that has not been heard in the local music scene for a long time. Delicately chrome-plated post-punk with traces of gothic rock and new wave, chiselled by the sensual spoken word passages of singer Rubee True Fegan, echoes through the speakers in a way that begs the question: are they really from Germany? And the answer is: yes, all of them except for Rubee. The cryptic poetry, the cool sound, and the urban malaise poured into melodies make it clear. SMILE can therefore justifiably be called the greatest hope for a type of punk that many in this country already considered a dinosaur. All nonsense: if anything, this band is the first splash of a new wave.