Subhuman Race - Skid Row

...from their later album - SubHuman Race and never got around to buying it. However, when I came across the CD recently second-hand for only £3 I thought I might as well give it a go...
...and to be honest it broke my heart. One of the most striking and impressive things about Slave To The Grind, was the quality, aggression and sheer pent up energy which came through from frontman Sebastien Bach's vocals - something which is strangely lacking ...
...of the few which save Subhuman Race from being a piece of mediocre trash. This is followed by another saviour in the form of 'Eileen'. Much more of a 'sung' track than the rest, 'Eileen' is almost hypnotic and dreamy in its delivery. Gorgeously produced and delivered and with an outro which shows some of Seb's old vocal skills, hitting and holding some of those peaks which earned him the title of ‘the biggest lungs in rock’ in the band's ... more

One of the first albums I bought was Slave To The Grind by Skid Row, and its still one of the finest albums I have ever heard. Full or raw energy and aggression, there are few rock albums which come close to it. However, despite being a huge fan of the band I was less than impressed by the few tracks I had heard from their later album - SubHuman Race and never got around to buying it. However, when I came across the CD recently second-hand for only £3 I thought I might as well give it a go...
...and to be honest it broke my heart. One of the most striking and impressive things about Slave To The Grind, was the quality, aggression and sheer pent up energy which came through from frontman Sebastien Bach's vocals - something which is strangely lacking here. Whether because he can no longer hit the same notes, or whether his vocal chords have been damaged through the excesses of the rock and roll lifestyle or years of vocal torture through his punishing singing style, or simply because the band decided on a different style of vocalisation, I do not know - but its certainly not the same. I remember reading that Kurt Cobain used to cough up blood after live stage performances due to the torment his throat used to go through in the name of music, and anyone who has heard the sheer throat-ripping power of Skid Row's vocals could perhaps see that the same may be true here. One way or another though, the style is different and I for one am not a huge fan of the change. So too has the musical style changed. This is perhaps to be expected as bands grow and mature and its rare to see a band stay performing the same style over and over - and those who do tend to find their fans wandering off to less stale pastures...perhaps something Oasis should bear in mind if its not already too late. However, I can't say that I see this as being a step forward, but rather a step sideways, or even backwards. There is a distinct 'Motley Crue' sound about some of the tracks here. Not the old, Vince Neil led Motley Crue of the 80s, all spandex, make-up and hairspray, but rather the new 'harder' Motley Crue of the 90s with the old Scream vocalist. Not that I think Motley Crue are a 'bad' band...its just that I don't think the world needs two of them - whilst perhaps heavy metal was in desperate need of a Skid Row on top form to drag it out of its current state of apathy. Yes, I know there are bands like Kid Rock, Papa Roach, Korn etc. etc. out there allegedly fresh new and pushing the frontiers, but I still remember bands like Mordred who were doing the same kind of thing 10+ years earlier...

It seems that as heavy metal bands age, the temptation is to become increasingly heavier, a fact no more clearly represented than here by this band. Their first album was a pure piece of Bon Jovi-esque cock-rock, their second an energetic masterpiece, and now this their third 'real' studio album release has a far heavier guitar sound. It is a strange hybrid album. Parts sound so like Motley Crue it is uncanny, others are certainly Skid Row and the odd few sound as if they have been inspired by Pantera of all people. I am almost loathe to say this, but this album has some distinctly bad tracks on it - not something I ever expected to be saying about a Skid Row album and not a charge I would level at even their first offering. The lyrics are as inspired as ever, or at least as confused and convoluted as ever, but it is simply the music itself in the form of guitars, bass and drums which is so completely uninspired at points. Slave to the Grind, had some good tracks and some superb tracks, maybe one weak link but certainly nothing which could be described as 'uninspired'. This album IS uninspired, there is no way to dress it as being otherwise. There are a few good tracks and the rest are just so mediocre that its almost heart-breaking. It opens with 'My Enemy', which would not have been out of place on Motley Crue's uninspiringly title album 'Motley Crue'. In fact, had you heard this elsewhere other than on this album you would have sworn that this was a previously unreleased Crue track. That said, its not that bad although it does an unforgivable 'cobbled together' feel about it. A slow, dirty guitar solo breaks out of nowhere in such a way that you can almost feel someone flipping the switch in the studio to overlay it on the other tracks. Its really badly done, and sounds straight out of Pantera’s Vulgar Display of Power Album, and the final piece of Pantera-esque throat-ripping just sums the whole thing up. Its a slow brooding, sluggish track, not bad apart from the poor production, but otherwise nothing too inspiring and with ideas obviously ‘borrowed’ from elsewhere...and that said, its also one of the BETTER tracks here. 'Firesign' comes next, starting promisingly with some intriguing musicianship and Seb Bach singing in almost storytelling mode. Far more inspired here, this is the kind of thing which may have saved this album were it carried on throughout.

Unfortunately it isn't.

The album makes a habit of going from good to bad, not allowing the good tracks to string together in a fashion which would settle the listener and allow forgiveness for the apparent inevitability of weak album fillers propping up the rear. Here, Firesign is followed by 'Bonehead', which is an extremely apt description for whoever decided this would be a good track to include to include on this album - or any album for that matter. No doubt meant to be a adrenaline packed inclusion, guaranteed to get the crowd going etc. Bonehead ends up just being a cacophony of noise, coming at you like some abysmal punk reject from the mid 70s, complete with quickfire vocals, idiotic outro and general lack of inspiration. Fortunately it doesn't last too long so you haven’t got long to endure...and the album travels from bad back to good again with Beat Yourself Blind. I say good, but the chorus is merely a case of Seb ripping out 'Beat Yourself Blind' with various vocal inflections several times, so perhaps not the most lyrically inspired. Musically though, this is heavily bass led and cleverly formulated to produce the desired affect. It, like the rest of the album, is quite sluggish, with heavy power chords and drums to compliment, but the mixture of vocal style, guitar breaks etc. make this something to listen out for. I like this track a lot, and its one of the few which save Subhuman Race from being a piece of mediocre trash. This is followed by another saviour in the form of 'Eileen'. Much more of a 'sung' track than the rest, 'Eileen' is almost hypnotic and dreamy in its delivery. Gorgeously produced and delivered and with an outro which shows some of Seb's old vocal skills, hitting and holding some of those peaks which earned him the title of ‘the biggest lungs in rock’ in the band's early career, although now with a noticeable guttural rasping which cuts the sustain short. I can not praise this track enough. Eileen is deeply mystical and intriguing without resorting to cop-out sitars and the like to produce the effect, and incorporating some superb vocals and intelligent guitar work and general musicianship. Subhuman Race comes next and is a distinct musical throwback to Slave to the Grind. The same chugging guitars as seen on Slave to the Grind(the track that is) are again used here in the title track to this album to good effect. However, it doesn't have the power of the latter and feels somewhat 'over-produced' which throws fetters on the power, energy and aggression which it is obvious the boys were trying to unleash here. Its not bad, but its not that good either - and neither is 'Frozen' which follows. Quiet bit, loud bit, quiet bit...etc. marks the verses of this song. Seb sings a line over bass and inconspicuous drums and then loud, unfettered guitars kick in briefly before the next line. You know the kind of thing - its been done to death in rock history and it still sounds no better here. Frozen seems to go on for ever, thanks to this style of delivery and really drags despite being less than 5 minutes in length. It is not helped by an uninspired 'can it be I'm frozen' repetition which is the sum total of the chorus either. Not a deeply awful track but certainly not a good one either.

In the aforementioned annoying fashion, another bad track is followed by a good one. Well, OK its good on this album, but its pretty much a ‘painting by numbers’ rock track. One step between a power ballad and something more ballsy, 'Into Another' features some great 'singy' vocals in the verses and a 'cute' soppy chorus whilst inexplicably hard guitars rock on in the background. It doesn't sound too bad though and its worth listening too, especially when compared to the next track's mediocrity. In fact just how 'average' can a rock track be? I'd like to say something about Face Against My Soul, but its so damn contrived and mediocre and blatantly unoriginal there isn't much to say. Its an album track, with a mellow verse and a repetitive, almost trance-like chorus and it finishes on a load of Seb Bach's little screams...nuff said. Next comes Medicine Jar which is obviously another of the band's anti-drugs songs. This is nothing to compare with the awesome power of Wasted Time though despite the similarities of the subject matter, but rather a return to something akin to Psycho Love, although again with a harder edge to it. Straight to the point and straight down your throat, this track certainly pulls no punches in its message, or its style. Verses are almost James Brown-like in their delivery - or at least as close as a heavy metal vocalist gets, although the backing is anything but, with stuttered power chords over the ever present bass line and percussion accompaniment. Medicine Jar is an above average track, but the message could and should have been stronger - for all its lyrical imagery its easily misinterpreted by those who would choose to do so. And then comes the truly classic track on this album, Breakin' Down. Every good rock album obviously needs its ballad track and Skid Row are absolutely superb at these. Their first album featured 18 and Life and I Remember You, Slave to the Grind had Wasted Time, In a Darkened Room and Quicksand Jesus and Subhuman Race has Breakin' Down...ALL are superb tracks. Obviously ballads do not fit with the new harder image and hence the inclusion of only one here, written by Dave Sabo (who incidentally insists on being known solely as 'Snake' on here), and shoved amongst the back markers which is an incredible shame because it is such a good track. Completely uncomplicated in its lyrical content and equally musically simplistic this is a highly impressive ballad in the universality of its appeal. An electric acoustic accompanied by Seb Bach actually 'singing' in the more traditional sense, with some haunting electric guitar effects in the background comprises the first two minutes of this track before the power chords kick in and Seb unleashes his full vocal emotions. I don't think anybody does this sort of thing better than Skid Row, and although this sounds a little contrived, and even amazingly devoid of lyrical excellence which is almost unbelievable when compared to past glories, the quality of this offering is undeniable. This then to the final track on the album, Iron Will. Again, the unfortunate decision to use the musically uninspirational quiet bit, loud bit etc. seen previously on Frozen ruins the verses of this track, but the rest is gorgeously pumped full of adrenaline, especially the hard-rocking chorus which are perfect stadium fodder and the manic outro - which is perhaps a fitting end to the album.

To say that this album was rubbish would be to do it a huge disservice, but for those us who remember the pure class of Slave to the Grind, it is extremely weak by comparison. Put comparisons to one side however, and its still not brilliant, although there are some good tracks. I can’t understand the shift towards a Motley Crue sound, nor the dip in lyrical quality as this was hardly a rush job considering the time-scale between this album release and those that preceded it. It is instead as a result a distinctly average rock album, and average was never a word which anyone would have levelled at this band before this release. Their first album was excellent at a time when cock-rock was filling stadiums and their subsequent tours blew away bands like Poison and Bon Jovi for whom they opened. The Slave to the Grind follow up was an awesome production and again, now headlining their stage performances were electrifying and then to this...but they are still awesome live - that never changes. It appears that in an attempt to find that ‘heavier’ sound which all metal bands seem to progress towards - and ultimately their own self-destruction, Skid Row have sacrificed song writing and musical excellence and I for one am deeply saddened by this. Perhaps a follow up of parallel strength to Slave to the Grind was infeasible, but to drop from a 5 star album to one which can only rank as 3 stars, with individual tracks rating 2 and 1 stars in some cases is a deep disappointment.
 

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