Sebastian Bach
Give ‘Em Hell
Frontiers Records
2014
To be completely honest to all of you, until now, I never followed the ex-frontman of the legendary American hard rockers Skid Row, Sebastian Bach, except for “Angel Down” in 2007 which I heard a couple of times; it was not what I wanted to hear at that moment so I never got myself into the process of dealing with it again. This time, after his latest album entitled “Give ‘Em Hell” was given to me for a review, I sat down comfortably and I listened to it very carefully because I always want to be a fair critic. I will not bore you that much by writing hundreds of words as I always do, because it didn’t take long to draw a conclusion about the album.
This new album, which is the fifth from Bach’s personal albums, is divided into two parts in my humble opinion. What do I mean by this? Musically, it’s divided into two categories. The first six tracks are written in – alternative meets grunge – style (I cannot rank them in a more specific type); that is an acoustic 90s mixture of Soundgarden, Faith no More, Nirvana (yes, you read that right – especially the second track “Harmony”) and Alice In Chains. It even has some sound bits from Marilyn Manson. Don’t reckon that it is a cheap copy of the bands mentioned above... of course not, it is just that those six tracks are reminiscent of all the aforementioned groups. Personally, I wasn’t particularly moved and after having listened to it I couldn’t remember anything, neither a bridge nor a chorus. Vocally, Bach is stepping very well and he is not over the top. He’s also got a lot of tunefulness but the choruses are responsible for that. At the most aggressive songs he slightly distorts his voice to maintain the tension.
In the second part of the CD, from the song entitled “Had Enough”, I discovered a big change. Here we have hard rock tracks, some of which are more balladesque. Don’t believe that these songs will be remembered for a long time, but I think that they can earn some air play. Of course, this is not the typical hard rock that we all know and love; it is more of a modern style. There are good guitars inside and admittedly Sebastian’s vocals are very good and embrace each song. I must admit that I was more satisfied with the second part of the album, because its style sounded better in my ears and, in my opinion, it is more appropriate for the general audience.
To sum up, I should point out that when you see the name Sebastian Bach printed on the album’s cover you shouldn’t think that you will hear songs that will remind you of the golden era of the early 90s, when Skid Row had ruled the music scene with their killer albums. Musically, you will find something different, in the style that he chose to offer you, which is closer in the modern songwriting way of our time. I would say that “Give ‘Em hell” is not a bad album, but neither can it reach the highest standards. It’s from a respected artist, a 90s music idol, worshiped and still cherished by many generations of music lovers around the world, who delivered many gems back in the Skid Row days. Finally, if you can objectively deal with this point of view, I think that you might get it and listen to it.
This new album, which is the fifth from Bach’s personal albums, is divided into two parts in my humble opinion. What do I mean by this? Musically, it’s divided into two categories. The first six tracks are written in – alternative meets grunge – style (I cannot rank them in a more specific type); that is an acoustic 90s mixture of Soundgarden, Faith no More, Nirvana (yes, you read that right – especially the second track “Harmony”) and Alice In Chains. It even has some sound bits from Marilyn Manson. Don’t reckon that it is a cheap copy of the bands mentioned above... of course not, it is just that those six tracks are reminiscent of all the aforementioned groups. Personally, I wasn’t particularly moved and after having listened to it I couldn’t remember anything, neither a bridge nor a chorus. Vocally, Bach is stepping very well and he is not over the top. He’s also got a lot of tunefulness but the choruses are responsible for that. At the most aggressive songs he slightly distorts his voice to maintain the tension.
In the second part of the CD, from the song entitled “Had Enough”, I discovered a big change. Here we have hard rock tracks, some of which are more balladesque. Don’t believe that these songs will be remembered for a long time, but I think that they can earn some air play. Of course, this is not the typical hard rock that we all know and love; it is more of a modern style. There are good guitars inside and admittedly Sebastian’s vocals are very good and embrace each song. I must admit that I was more satisfied with the second part of the album, because its style sounded better in my ears and, in my opinion, it is more appropriate for the general audience.
To sum up, I should point out that when you see the name Sebastian Bach printed on the album’s cover you shouldn’t think that you will hear songs that will remind you of the golden era of the early 90s, when Skid Row had ruled the music scene with their killer albums. Musically, you will find something different, in the style that he chose to offer you, which is closer in the modern songwriting way of our time. I would say that “Give ‘Em hell” is not a bad album, but neither can it reach the highest standards. It’s from a respected artist, a 90s music idol, worshiped and still cherished by many generations of music lovers around the world, who delivered many gems back in the Skid Row days. Finally, if you can objectively deal with this point of view, I think that you might get it and listen to it.