Embedded Files
SWEET SAVAGE “Bang”
SWEET SAVAGE “Bang”
By Bob Burner
So here we are with a new album by long running legendary act SWEET SAVAGE from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Many know this band from METALLICA covering one of their songs way back when. Well, like a lot of these older bands, they are back and also like a lot of these bands, with an updated out of touch change to their sound. Before I get into the review there is a small story that will help with those who are reading this. I went to a fest years back and talked to a member of a semi popular NWOBHM band. He just left the band due to the main guy coming to rehearsal saying that he heard this band LINKIN PARK and they should change the style to more of that so they could get more popular. Again, not realizing that just changing your sound does not bring you huge sums of money and fans. You have to build up to that and it rarely works. But it shows you how a lot of these older guys think.
So I was leery of checking this out since more times than not these new albums by classic bands never pan out for me. While this one did not, I won’t totally dismiss it since the band seems to know how to write some catchy stuff and really put in a lot of power to the new material and it isn’t tired or more of the same. They have gone from a hard rock / NWOBHM inspired band to more punkish / bar band / arena rock , I guess, with a small touch of industrial at times. It sounds like an odd mix but I can see a different type of crowd really getting into this. I think they will definitely lose their heavy metal fans on this one.
The album kicks off with the title track “Bang” and it is super upbeat and grabs you with its chorus and chanting almost rapping lyrics. They do have a great energy to all of their songs. I can almost picture this stuff being played during football games. But the band pulls out all of the stops from start to finish with this. All of the songs do a good job of being different and not falling into the trap of sounding the same.
The song “Live and Die” slows things down a bit with more of an emotional track and still has its hard rock roots. The best part of these songs are that they never overstay their welcome and are pretty quick and short. The song “Mad World comes up right after this one and sounds more like THE OFFSPRING than anything metal. While not fully pulling from punk they do put some metal edge to it.
The album comes to a close with two pulse pounders “Outside’ and “Victorious”. Both hit hard and fast and have touches of industrial in them. “Victorious” has more of a sing along style to it and a good way to end off the album strong. There is a lot going on with this and that is a good thing. It really seems the band worked hard at doing something different. It is crazy to see the age of the guys in the band and hear this style being played with such energy and this is not an insult.
Overall this is not an album I would ever spin on my free time or buy. I do think they will have a hard time with this one with people who know the name and the older stuff. I do hope they find their crowd and get great success because they do have the makings of something interesting here. Mixing genres is a hard thing to pull off but SWEET SAVAGE did it with easy. Now the hard part is finding that right crowd to hear this album or the right band to tour with. Crazy this band has been going for so long. Glad to see they are still making music and if you do want to try something way different that classic metal or some heavy stuff and want something that is an easy listen, pick up “Bang” by SWEET SAVAGE. It is definitely different.
Report abuse