ATLANTIC JAPAN AMCY-2954
OVERALL: 53%
Produced by: Michael Wagener & Sebastian Bach (Studio & Live)
OVERALL: 53%
Produced by: Michael Wagener & Sebastian Bach (Studio & Live)
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ATLANTIC JAPAN AMCY-2954 OVERALL: 53% Produced by: Michael Wagener & Sebastian Bach (Studio & Live) | ||||
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It's a shame to see that the rest of Skid Row can't sort it out with Sebastian, because they made some good tunes together. Still, never say never. I never really got into the Skids debut, it was a huge item, but due to the amazing amount of great music around at that time, it never ended up in my collection. Looking back, a good record though. Slave To The Grind did catch my attention however and I have been a big fan of that album since it's release. I quite anticipated the Bob Rock produced Human Race. Shouldn't have, as I was left pretty disappointed and as sales would have it, so were many others. So it's been a few years down the track and the rest of the Skids are recording under some other name and Sebastian has himself a solo band for this tour and recording. They are Jimmy Flemion and Richie Scarlet on guitar, Larry (?) on bass and Mark McConnell on drums. First up to the studio tracks. There are four new tracks on Bring Em Bach Alive, three of which are new studio tracks. Done Bleeding opens the album with a not unexpected brain numbingly heavy riff and some Sebastian screaming. The song has a fairly strong 90's feel, but still holds a little of the Slave To The Grind heavy melody. Sebastian really screams a lot, sings deep and only sounds like his old self himself on the bridge and chorus. Not a bad song. Blasphemer is the next studio track and is another rocker. A little less heavy, but more furious in it's rhythm. A little punkish in it's feel and again, not a bad track. More straight up vocals, but it is still a different Sebastian here than the classic Skid Row. Superjerk, Superstar, Supertears is an acoustic track. A ballad of sorts, but a mid tempo one and not necessarily a love ballad. I like the two rockers better than I do this. An average modern rock track. | ||
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The live tracks are a little more interesting. Slave To The Grind is the intro track and as I suspected from hearing the liveconcerts.com sample, Sebastian's voice is half shot! OK in places, but generally his vocals aren't really cutting it here. The band are pretty tight, although no replacement for the originals. Sebastian screams where the high notes are and sounds like he is struggling for breath on the lower notes. He sings hard with low and high. Frozen didn't really interest me but Here I Am was a little better. 18 & Life, like some of the other classic tunes here, provided great atmosphere and a cool vibe as the audience really got into it, but Seb's vocals lost it over the last half of the song. They held up nicely for the first half but when it came for the track to go off, it was screaming an nothing else. Beat Yourself Blind was again OK, but uninteresting. Riot Act was a lot better. So the vocals again were varied, the vibe of the song was pretty good fun. Sweet Little Sister likewise. Mudkicker again was OK. In A Darkened Room was a good slow down in pace and had some good vocals until a guitar solo took over and finished the track off. Get The Fuck Out was the 'meathead' part of the night, with Sebastian playing his part, but the crowd soaked it up and the track does off pretty well. Monkey Business goes off well. This is one of the better tracks of the album. Things then slow down a little for the acoustic double header of the fourth new track The Most Powerful Man In The World. Good feel and good song, but Sebastian again doesn't hold his voice up enough. I Remember You is a crowd favorite and works quite well. Then Youth Goes Wild kicks in and goes off in a big way. More screaming and plenty of guitars. Pretty cool stuff! And then it's over. Well, not a bad record and one that will probably only appeal to the die hard fans of Skid Row, especially with the added Japanese price tag. It is certainly a raw hard album, but with Sebastian's vocals questionable, it may be off putting in the end. And unfortunately it's only the four or five classic Skid Row songs that really go off and carry the rest of the release. After listening to that hideous liveconcerts.com broadcast of another Sebastian Bach show, this was better than I expected. But it couldn't have been worse. As raw as this is I can't help think that it has been touched up to make Sebastian sound better. You decide. One other thing - I have to commend the packaging of this album. A cartoon booklet, added notes and 2 removable tattoo sheets. At least it adds to a little better value. | PRODUCTION: 65% | SONGS: 45% | VIBE: 51% | ATTITUDE: 50% | ESSENTIAL FOR: Skid Row fans only |