{"id":7378,"date":"2007-11-20T00:00:38","date_gmt":"2007-11-20T00:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=7378"},"modified":"2013-06-01T15:44:50","modified_gmt":"2013-06-01T15:44:50","slug":"album-review-sebastian-bach-angel-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-sebastian-bach-angel-down\/","title":{"rendered":"SEBASTIAN BACH – Angel Down (2007) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

SEBASTIAN BACH
Angel Down<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nMerovingian Music (2007)<\/span>
Rating: 9\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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I have to admit to being shocked as to how heavy this album is. If you\u2019re fed up with Ozzy Osbourne becoming a household name, or the fact that Lemmy (Mot\u00f6rhead frontman) and Alice Cooper are almost in their graves, then Sebastian Bach \u2013 yes, that long-haired rocker who once fronted Skid Row \u2013 is surely the rock god to take their place.<\/p>\n

Angel Down<\/em> is without doubt one of metal\u2019s most underrated records despite eventually going on to sell over 200,000 worldwide. It is a monstrous slab that will reduce the speakers to ash and your ears to gory flaps.<\/p>\n

When Bach left Skid Row, many wondered where he would end up, and so he spent time in some of America\u2019s biggest Broadway shows, before releasing the low-key 2001 effort Bach 2: Basics<\/em>, but Angel Down<\/em> is the first to feature entirely original material.<\/p>\n

Despite a few distribution problems, Angel Down<\/em> (which features cover art painted by Bach\u2019s late father, David Bierk) finally began to cause a stir, mainly due to the fact that Guns N\u2019 Roses vocalist Axl Rose appears on three tracks. Mind you, when a friend of mine played the record to me, the biggest surprise was that it featured Steve DiGiorgio on bass \u2013 Steve is best known for his work in the extreme metal fraternity, having appeared in heavier bands such as Death, Obituary, Testament and Sadus. The album also features Halford guitarist Mike Chlasciak, who is accompanied by guitarist Johnny Chromatic, as well as drummer Bobby Jarzombek (Juggernaut \/ Halford \/ Riot).<\/p>\n

Any fans of early Skid Row should avoid this record like the plague, especially if you\u2019re expecting pomp rock. But if you were a fan of the band\u2019s Slave To The Grind<\/em> (1991) and Subhuman Race<\/em> (1995) records then you\u2019ll find this even grittier.<\/p>\n

Angel Down<\/em> is a mesmerising and at times brutal record that opens with the crushing title track, showcasing Bach\u2019s fantastic vocal ability as well as DiGiorgio\u2019s spectacular bass playing, whereas the guitars here just melt the face. I\u2019d even go as far to say that Angel Down<\/em> for the most part is as heavy as Machine Head\u2019s 1994 debut Burn My Eyes<\/em>, although naturally there is more melody here, particularly in the Iron Maiden-esque gallop of \u2018You Don\u2019t Understand\u2019, with its infectious chorus and wonderful solos.<\/p>\n

Guns N\u2019 Roses fans would have been eager at the time to hear the three tracks featuring Axl Rose, because the guy had been hidden away for some ten years before appearing on this opus, and he helps Seb out on the impressive heavyweight version of Aerosmith\u2019s \u2018Back In The Saddle\u2019, and two monolithic rockers; the groove-based chugger \u2018(Love Is) A Bitchslap\u2019 and the pounding \u2018Stuck Inside\u2019, which is truly monstrous with that epic riffing and bruising drum assault.<\/p>\n

Bach comes into his own however on the ferocious 80s style plod of \u2018American Metalhead\u2019, featuring the immortal warrior chant of \u201cWe live, we die, we kill, we rise\u201d<\/em>. Bach\u2019s distinctive wails surely put him up there with some of the genre\u2019s metal legends.<\/p>\n

Even though for the most part this record borders on the bone-crunching side of heavy metal, Angel Down<\/em> isn\u2019t afraid of varying the mood, and it\u2019s the spectacular power ballad \u2018By Your Side\u2019 that Bach really shines. This track could have been a massive accidental hit if it\u2019d been given radio play, and is one of those epic, catchy, yet unknown love songs that doesn\u2019t lay on the hair metal cheese to get its point across.<\/p>\n

Mind you, \u2018By Your Side\u2019 is the only light track on the record, and the album features an additional seven face rippers, such as the thrashy assault of \u2018Negative Light\u2019, the grunge influenced \u2018Live & Die\u2019 and the brooding, doom-laden thud of \u2018Take You Down With Me\u2019.<\/p>\n

Angel Down<\/em> is one of metal\u2019s finest moments; an hour of pummelling music that is played for keeps. You\u2019d be a fool to miss this. I hope Sebastian Bach never reunites with Skid Row, because what he\u2019s producing here is masterful.<\/p>\n

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

SEBASTIAN BACHAngel Down Merovingian Music (2007)Rating: 9\/10 I have to admit to being shocked as to how heavy this album is. If you\u2019re fed up with Ozzy Osbourne becoming a household name, or the fact that Lemmy (Mot\u00f6rhead frontman) and Alice Cooper are almost in their graves, then Sebastian Bach \u2013 yes, that long-haired rocker […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[393],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sebastian-bach"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7378","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=7378"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12174,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7378\/revisions\/12174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}