Sebastian Bach - Angel Down

God bless Sebastian Bach for sticking at it and carrying the ‘Kick Ass Heavy Rockin Torch’ onwards and upwards. If only he and Skid Row could see eye to eye, then both would still be a far bigger deal.

Seb carries on, does his TV slots, laughs a lot and hangs around with Axl Rose, supporting Axl’s Guns n’ Roses and getting the allusive man himself to scream on 3 of the tracks on Angel Down. The critics seem impressed with his third solo album and even Rolling Stone had the first single ‘Love Is A Bitchslap’ as a 'key track' (however they are all hypocrites and wouldn’t touch this sort of thing with a bargepole for the last 15 years).

Overview!

So what’s it like? It’s pretty good but really an album that you would ideally have in your car on a summer holiday with your mates. It’s very loud and heavy and of course layered with attitude. Bach's voice is as always - fierce and powerful. The opener and title track breaks through like a ‘mother fuckin’ Sherman tank and so on. If it doesn’t get your juices going just a bit, then you are in fact dead.

The influences are fairly obvious and his team of guitarists (Mike Chlasciak, Johnny Chromatic and Adam Abright) nail the riffs with conviction, but little else to get excited about. Hints of 'Slave To The Grind' era Skid Row, Slipknot, Alice In Chains and Guns n’ Roses (especially on the lively duet with Axl ‘Love Is A Bitchslap’) are clear. Another Axl collaboration ‘Stuck Inside’, sounds like Coheed and Cambria meets System Of A Down. 'Negative Light' has a main riff straight from the Symphony X school.The Aerosmith cover of ‘Back In The Saddle’ (again with Axl) will be popular and the whole album, with the exception of some unnecessary and dated ballads, fires pretty hard.

Conclusion

All in all, good party metal with some welcome enthusiasm – it’s well produced and it’s well heavy.