{"id":18523,"date":"2014-04-04T00:00:31","date_gmt":"2014-04-04T00:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=18523"},"modified":"2014-04-26T19:10:13","modified_gmt":"2014-04-26T19:10:13","slug":"album-review-confess-jail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-confess-jail\/","title":{"rendered":"CONFESS – Jail (2014) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

CONFESS
Jail<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nSG (2014)<\/span>
Rating: 5.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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I so want to be convinced by this runaway train known as Scandinavian sleaze \/ glam metal. It\u2019s been rollin\u2019 on for more than a decade now in its sordid attempts at bringing 80s LA-styled cock rock back to the masses. Sadly, having not succumbed to the sickly, over-glossy mess that is Crashd\u00efet and the likes, Confess are most likely another bunch of tattooed love boys formed to grate on my ears. But hey, I\u2019ll give it a go.<\/p>\n

And so, this spiky quintet comes striding out of the gutter all dressed up in leather as if we\u2019ve never seen its like before. After the intro, \u2018Pray For The Prey\u2019, we\u2019re thrown up the wall by the whisky-swigging shake of \u2018Relationshit\u2019, the sort of pop-tinged piece of sleaze metal I would have literally drooled over if this had come out in 1986… but not this time.<\/p>\n

While the vocals of John Elliot are more than acceptable \u2013 boasting Sebastian Bach-styled steel \u2013 the music flits by as a throwback to those halcyon days, but it just lacks the heart and the punch to make any mark on this reviewer\u2019s skin.<\/p>\n

Lacking anthems and grit, this 13-track opus (which comes complete with an atrocious cover of Tina Turner\u2019s \u2018What\u2019s Love Got To Do With It\u2019) only seems to get off the ground with the monstrous grooves of \u2018Cardiac Arrest\u2019 where the band transform into Skid Row circa the muscle of Slave To The Grind<\/em> (1991), but these guys need to make their mind up as to what style to adopt.<\/p>\n

For instance, guitarists Blomman and Denver seem more at ease with the juggernaut express of, say, \u2018Scream\u2019, which actually does well to combine that 80s hair metal feel with a more rollicking rattle. And \u2018Pay Before I Go\u2019 is also acceptable as a riotous affair. However, as a subtle animal Confess just don\u2019t live up to expectations. \u2018Take Aim\u2019 is rather flaky, \u2018Setting Sails\u2019 poorly executed with the pop-tinged cheese, and \u2018Got Lucky\u2019 seems to opt for more traditional metal sway \u2013 but all three seem to exude a level of na\u00efvety.<\/p>\n

It could be argued that Confess are actually masters at drifting between styles, but I much prefer them as a more rampant force as exhibited on the aforementioned \u2018Cardiac Arrest\u2019 or, say, the more straightforward \u2018Get Me Down\u2019. But however much I try, I just cannot convince myself that these young upstarts are the real thing.<\/p>\n

As the new wave of sleaze metal approaches its 15th year of existence, I\u2019m left cynical and sceptical time after time as if these ugly ducklings are being plucked from the clubs and styled as the next big thing when the reality is they are just one among the generic hordes that lack that bit of quality to become noticeable. These guys are clearly talented musicians, but it is sleaze rock by numbers, although no doubt those who are new to this scene will find much savour here amongst the chunks of the imitative.<\/p>\n

Bands like Confess existed in their droves back in the mid-to-late 80s and a majority of them faded away, despite boasting better songs than these modern archetypes. I must confess that I\u2019m just not a fan of the mediocre!<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CONFESSJail SG (2014)Rating: 5.5\/10 I so want to be convinced by this runaway train known as Scandinavian sleaze \/ glam metal. It\u2019s been rollin\u2019 on for more than a decade now in its sordid attempts at bringing 80s LA-styled cock rock back to the masses. Sadly, having not succumbed to the sickly, over-glossy mess that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1190],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-confess"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18523"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18525,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18523\/revisions\/18525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}