Album Review
Sebastian Bach - Angel DownSebastian Bach - Angel Down

Sebastian Bach is best known from the time he fronted rock band Skid Row from the late 80's running all the way through the 90's, the band sold well over 20-million albums worldwide in their time and were one of the most successful rock bands at the time up there with Guns N Roses, Iron Maiden, Metallica and all the other great rock bands. In 1996 Sebastian Bach was fired from Skid Row, the man then went on to release his debut solo album 'Bring 'Em Bach Alive!' during the end of 1999, since then Sebastian Bach seemed to of disappeared from the music world with only a few appearances over the past year or so joining Axl Rose on stage for guest vocals during some Guns N Roses festival shows.

It’s been eight years since Sebastian Bach released his one and only solo album, but he’s now back on the scene and ready to change that with the release of his second solo album 'Angel Down' the album is due for release on the 21st July and I am pretty sure the news will please the old skool style rock fans, the album is classic as a solo album but technically it isn’t as throughout the album Bach has members of his touring band and a few other musicians playing instruments on the album and if that isn’t enough, Bach's best friend, Guns N Roses frontman Axl Rose features on guest vocals on three songs on the album including a cover of the classic Aerosmith song 'Back In The Saddle'.

It seems like it’s the year for rock stars who have been in successful bands over the past ten years or so to dismantle from their band and go solo, over the past 12 months we have had a solo album from Chris Cornell who left Audioslave to concentrate on his solo material, we have also just had the debut solo album from Gavin Rossdale, the former frontman from the now dysfunctional British rock band Bush, but where Chris Cornell and Gavin Rossdale have chosen the more laid back boy band style rock sound Sebastian Bach has stayed true to his roots by sticking to his angry rocking style, but saying that he has thrown in some more chilled out moments to mix things up a bit.

The album 'Angel Down' kicks off with the title track, it starts with a real chilled musical instrumental before branching off into a brutal assault of raw shouty vocals, big chunky guitar riffs and banging drum rolls, the song is really strong sounding and a perfect opening for the album.

The opening bass line to 'You Dont Understand' sounds like something from Iced Earth, but when you read into the history of Bach's backing band it’s easy to see why moments of Iced Earth are clearly present as the bassist of his choice Steve DiGiorgio has played bass in Iced Earth, a band who seems to take on a new bass player every year, he has also played for Testament and many other bands in the past, the song runs well and is a really enjoyable experience.

Most fans of Bach will know that the man loves to cover other peoples songs, after releasing a whole solo cover album, well for his second solo album he has decided to cover Aerosmith’s 'Back In The Saddle' which was originally featured on their album 'Rocks'. The best bit about the cover is the fact that Guns N Roses frontman Axl Rose pops up with guest vocals, it’s good to hear best of friends Bach and Rose working together and it’s even better to hear a finished recorded song featuring Axl Rose especially after what feels like a life time wait for the forthcoming Guns N Roses album 'Chinese Democracy' which still hasn’t seen the light of day. The cover version is good and Axl's vocals really shine.

If having Axl Roses help out wasn’t enough, the man features on the next two songs, the first '(Love Is) A Bitchslap' is a song that oozes with attitude, the guitar solos come at you fast and there are plenty on offer, the lyrics are full of attitude with the chorus being such a catchy moment of attitude with Rose singing "Don't ask what the truth is and I won't tell you no lies Cause love can be a BitchSlap, honey A bleedin' heart in disguise". The second song 'Stuck Inside' starts off with a really loud dirty guitar riff, which is shortly followed by a scream from Bach. The riffage throughout the song is incredible and Rose's guest vocals are loud, raw and even more full of attitude compared to the previous two tracks.

The opening riffs of 'American Metalhead' remind me of the Cancer Bats and sounds like Bach is about to blast into 'Hail Destroyer', but then Bach’s angry vocals come in shouting in his old skool style, the guitar work from Mike Chlasciak and Johnny Chromatic is never ending and quite technical and big sounding.<

It wouldn’t be a rock album now without the odd ballad thrown in would it? Well 'Angel Down' features a couple of ballads the first being 'By Your Side', the song really shows off Bach's vocals as he sings his heart out over the acoustic guitar, I have always had a weak spot for acoustic music, because it’s stripped down and really gives the singer a chance to shine and show a slight different vocal style and an overall different song feel, Bach manages to conquer the style here.

'Angel Down' finishes with 'Fallin Into You' a song that is so laid back and soothing with progressive guitar harmonies, everything in this song works ever so well and leaves me wanting to hear more from Sebastian Bach.

Musically and vocally 'Angel Down' is a pretty outstanding album, Bach’s vocals are as good as they were say ten years ago and his backing band are really talented musicians who know how to pull off killer riffs time and time again and create a good noise that is bound to get people buzzing, the addition of Axl Rose is bound to shock and excite many people for the reason that some new studio tracks with Rose's vocals have finally been released even if it’s not with his own band Guns N Roses. There are many highlights on 'Angel Down', most of the songs are of a high quality with only a few fillers featuring on the album, and who would of thought Sebastian Bach would of ever dreamed of a come back and it turning out this good? As I for sure wasn’t expecting it, but am totally glad it’s here.

4/5

Review by Trigger
 Band Members

Sebastian Bach
 Track Listing
1. Angel Down
2. You Dont Understand
3. Back In The Saddle (Featuring AXL ROSE)
4. (Love Is) A Bitchslap (Featuring AXL ROSE)
5. Stuck Inside (Featuring AXL ROSE)
6. America Metalhead
7. Negative Light
8. Live & Die
9. By Your Side
10. Our Love Is A Lie
11. Take You Down With Me
12. Stabbin Daggers
13. You Bring Me Down
14. Falling Into You
 Band Related Links
Sebastian Bach Myspace
sebastian Bach Official Site
 Review Score Code
- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
- What Was That?