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SEBASTIAN BACH
Kicking & Screaming

Frontiers (2011)
Rating: 8.5/10

As soon as the riff hits, I’m relieved to hear that Sebastian Bach is still keeping the true metal flame burning. Despite this album being bereft of bassist Steve DiGiorgio, the band Bach has assembled is still content to beat their chest and snarl through 13 tracks (14 on non-standard versions) that once again display a great deal of melody amidst the crushing riffs and pounding drums.

Album opener is the catchy title track that boasts a chorus I’m sure I’ve heard before… but who cares?! The crunching, chugging guitars courtesy of Nick Sterling and Johnny Chromatic follow on here from 2007’s Angel Down in their ferocity.

Second track, ‘My Own Worst Enemy’, loses the crushing weight, providing the listener with a more melodic, classic metal feel, with Bach hitting the high notes throughout. But on third track, ‘TunnelVision’ (featuring a guest appearance from former Marilyn Manson and current Rob Zombie guitarist John 5), Bach once again opts for a heavy, grunge-influenced style of groove, while ‘Dance On Your Grave’ has a crunchier, speedier approach to proceedings.

There’s no questioning Bach’s talent as a frontman, vocalist and songwriter, and his varied collaborations have resulted in a collection of mighty songs that will no doubt be ignored by much of the metal fraternity. For instance, the superb ‘I’m Alive’ is another of those sweeping ballads that build on a mellow guitar before reaching a crescendo that will see many a lighter waved at gigs.

Sebastian Bach was always a dab hand at the more subtle side, but he’s still a true metalhead at heart, and soon the album wrenches the metal back with the hammering riff of ‘One Good Reason’, featuring some rattling, clanking drums and brooding bass line, and the cold steel ‘Lost In The Light’, where Bach melts together a cooler grunge groove with ominous sounding riffs.

Kicking & Screaming does what all metal albums are meant to do, by dragging the listener in with those epic riffs, ringing the ears with the bombastic drums and providing the highs with melodic choruses that hook themselves into the brain. Here’s to more Bach records, but I just have a feeling deep down that eventually he’ll be back in Skid Row, which for me seems a pointless and merely nostalgic exercise that doesn’t need to happen all the time he’s churning out music as potent as this. Kicking and screaming indeed!

Neil Arnold