Album Review

Saliva – Love, Lies And Therapy
Saliva – Love, Lies And Therapy

Since arriving on the music scene back in 1996 Saliva have had one hell of a musical journey and now they are gearing up to release their ninth studio album ‘Love, Lies And Therapy’ an album which follows up their 2014 offering ‘Rise Up’ nicely being the second album to feature new vocalist Bobby Amaru who replaces originally vocalist Josey Scott.

‘Rise Up’ opened a whole new chapter for Saliva and ‘Love, Lies And Therapy’ see’s the band continue that chapter as lead vocalist Bobby Amarua, lead guitarist Wayne Swinny, drummer Paul Crosby and bassit Brad Stewart have come together and created a solid 12 track album which is diverse as anything with big anthems, crushing riffs, ballads and even a solid cover of the Michael Jackson classic ‘They Don’t Care About Us’.

‘Love, Lies And Therapy’ opens with ‘Trust’ a progressive little track which starts off quite mellow and over time builds up with its pulsating riffs, spot on drumming and explosive chorus which see’s Bobby Amaru’s vocals shine and not to forget the epic guitar solo towards the later part of the track.

‘Tragic Kind Of Love’ is the lead single to be taken from the album and it is easy to see why within the first five seconds as the opening riffs are so in your face and top notch and by the time the infectious chorus comes in if you are not already hooked on the song then you have an amazing ride ahead of you as the chorus is super radio friendly with Bobby Amaru once again at the top of his game and showing his importance.

‘Bitch Like You’ is a full on dirty rock ‘n roll anthem and just like all the other songs on the album has an infectious chorus with Bobby Amaru singing “maybe you’re a little crazy, out of my way haven’t got no time for a bitch like you, pyscho, pyscho you’re so fucking crazy” which is bound to be a chant-a-long moment at future Saliva gigs.

‘Unshatter Me’ see’s the band slow things down for a sleepy balled which works really well, whilst ‘Breakdown’ see’s the band tone things down even more than on ‘Unshatter’ and it proves to be a solid therapeutic listen. ‘Broken Wings’ is just like your classic Saliva song with a massive chorus ‘RX’ is quite a chanty song yet at the same time is so melodic with the mix being spot on.

‘Go Big Or Go Home’ takes us back to the late 90’s or the early 00’s as Saliva go down a big rap-rock route as they bring the new metal scene to the 21st century and the song actually happens to be one of the best tracks on the album which has a good lasting appeal.

The biggest talking point of the album has to be the cover of Michael Jacksons ‘They Don’t Care About Us’ first of all the band have a lot of balls to cover a Michael Jackson song as it Is not easy to cover a song from the king of pop and do it justice and secondly the fact they chose ‘They Don’t Care About Us’ to cover is such a good choice being one of my favourite ever Michael Jackson songs and it’s fair to say that Saliva have done a great job here upping the volume a couple of notches and seriously rocking out to Michael Jackson.

The album comes to a close with the dreamy yet progressive sounding ‘Hand In Hand’ which perfectly brings ‘Love, Lies And Therapy’ to a close.

Saliva have once again proved that being in a band for twenty years they are still relevant in the music industry and can still write and record a solid collection of songs and I really hope their forthcoming make America rock tour makes its way over to the UK in the future.

4/5

Review by Trigger

 Band Members

Bobby Amaru
Wayne Swinny
Brad Stewart
Paul Crosby
 Track Listing
1. Trust
2. Tragic Kind Of Love
3. Bitch Like You
4. Unshatter Me
5. Broken Wings
6. Rx
7. Break Down
8. Go Big or Go Home
9. The Loneliest Know
10. Refuse To Lose
11. They Don’t Care About Us
12. Hand In Hand
 Band Related Links
Saliva Facebook
 Review Score Code
- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
- What Was That?