Sebastian Bach – Angel Down

Mike and I are posting this album simultaneously. Lucky you, you can go get his superior review right here!!

I got this CD for $3 from a cut-out bin at our shite HMV. They cut the spine of the case, but not all the way through to the paper, so all I had to do was replace the case and voilà, I have a brand new copy of this CD for $3!

Angel Down takes half a minute to get past its intro, but when it hits holy hell it’s heavy. There’s no warming up here, we go straight into full shriek from the get-go! I played this record twice through and, at the risk of seeming sweeping and simple, this was brilliant. This record hits fucking hard, and Bach’s sense of what rocks is absolutely unerring. From the full-on shriek of Angel Down right through to the heavy ballad of Falling Into You, there isn’t a song here that isn’t crushingly, brain-searingly brilliant.

The ballad had to happen, and By Your Side gets out your cigarette lighter (using a cellphone is for pussies) and makes you sway back and forth. But the other 13 tracks here are built to peel paint off your walls and melt steel while they rattle your friggin’ cage.

We even get a 3-fer of duets with the one and only batshit G’n’R front man Axl Rose. Back In The Saddle is, of course, a cover the Aerosmith classic. Were they trying to make the Universe implode with throat-shredding awesomeness? I think yes! It’s a solid, heavy version. (Love Is) A Bitchslap ramps up the pace, sounding like a G’n’R song (and that’s a good thing). Stuck Inside mixes heavy with atmospheric with aplomb. I gotta say, I think Sebs came out on top in this 3-round vocal match.

In Sum:

Bloody and brilliant. Bloody brilliant.