Sebastian Bach has released what this reviewer feels is easily his best overall solo album to date with the absolutely rocking Kicking & Screaming via Frontiers Records. Produced by Bob Marlette (BLACK SABBATH, ATREYU, FILTER), the former SKID ROW front man has pulled out all the stops… and I mean, everything. He pretty much throws the ‘kitchen sink’ at the listener on this bad boy. Let me first say that Bach has truly kept his voice in top notch shape all these years. He sounds twenty years old at this mid-aged point. That’s got to be what drives his critics through the roof the most, beyond the fact that the rock legend still gets the chicks, is that – at a time when most singers his age are relegated to small venues – Bach’s pipes are cleaner and more powerful than ever… ready to destroy any arenas set in front of him daily. Now that is what pisses off a lot of people. Sure, Sebastian has a penchant for making the news for all the wrong reasons lately (Hell, he just lost his home to Hurricane Irene, remember?), but what I dig the most about this cat is he just takes it all in true Rock n Roll stride. I mean, come on… he’s recently gone through a public divorce along with some new arrests, saw one of his peers go down in flames (R.I.P. Jani Lane)… and yet, while many would just run in the corner and hide, ole Bach grabs the microphone and heads right back into battle. I’m sorry… but to me, that is just so metal.
In fact, the 2011 version of Sebastian Bach is so good… it’s surely going to leave the listener Kicking & Screaming. This time around lead guitarist Metal Mike Chlasciak (who performed on 2007’s acclaimed Angel Down) is replaced now by baby faced guitar virtuoso Nick Sterling. Is the kid any good? I wasn’t expecting much, but after the title track “Kicking & Screaming” broke open my ball sack, then “My Own Worst Enemy” slammed me back into my chair… my interest was caught. Don’t get me wrong, sure this album sounds like Slave To The Grind 2 at points, maybe a wee bit too close for comfort. However, I feel it does somehow stand on its own at the end. It’s more hard rock than a straight ahead metal album really… although Bach seems to be hellbent at taunting his ex-band mates in SKID ROW often here and with utter glee, almost as if to say “I still got it, boys!”.
I mainly dig the cut entitled “Tunnelvision”, which features John 5 of ROB ZOMBIE fame, along with “Dance On Your Grave”, and my personal favorite “As I long As I Got The Music”. The vocalist shines the most on this gem. What a fantastic chorus. He succeeds – without a damn care against the haters – at taking the listener away back to the 80’s glory days of metal when it was cool to have tons of campy guitar solos and several over the top ballads on your record. I don’t know exactly how that still works today myself … but trust me, Bach has unleashed one of the year’s best releases with “Kicking & Screaming”. “Don’t tell me how to be…”, sings the vocalist on track eight’s “Dirty Power”, adding: “Don’t tell me how to live… your dirty power is not controlling me… I got a bad reputation… I spit in the eye of the past.” The drums are handled by Bobby Jarzombek (HALFORD, RIOT, ICED EARTH) and Sterling himself doubled up on the bass guitar duties for the record. Back to the kid. I know, I know.. he’s just a youngster, how good can he really be? Very good. Sterling has as well honed chops as any player in the industry and he doesn’t hold back in displaying his wicked fretboard talents at every turn. All in all, Kicking & Screaming rocks out with its cock out… and is a frank message to Bach’s biggest detractors that the ex-SKID ROW singer is indeed in the game for the long haul.
ROCKET REVIEW:
[starreview tpl=16]
Sebastian Bach – “Kicking And Screaming” (CD)
(Frontiers Records/2011)
1. Kicking & Screaming
2. My Own Worst Enemy
3. TunnelVision (featuring John 5)
4. Dance On Your Grave
5. Caught In A Dream
6. As Long As I Got The Music
7. I’m Alive
8. Dirty Power
9. Live The Life
10. Dream Forever
11. One Good Reason
12. Lost In The Light
13. Wishin’
http://www.sebastianbach.com/
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