SVEN GALI — Sven Gali (review)

Album · 1992 · Glam Metal

3.5/5 · 2016-06-25
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Motley Crue, Ratt, Poison, Cinderella, White Lion, L.A. Guns, Faster Pussycat, Skid Row, Guns N’ Roses, London Quireboys, Dangerous Toys, Smashed Gladys, Slik Toxik, Sven Gali…

I was reading “Metal On Ice” by Sean Kelly, a book about Canadian hard rock and metal bands from the 80’s and early 90’s and came across Sven Gali. I’d never heard of the band before, but as the stories in the book captured my interest in a lot of bands I knew little or nothing about, I decided to track down this album, their debut album and one of only two releases. The book mentioned something interesting I hadn’t considered before and that was that glam metal could be regarded as before and after Guns N’ Roses, before being make-up and colourful, loose-hanging accessory garments over tight-fitting pants with big, dyed and teased hair and after being long un-dyed hair, tight-fitting denim and leather, no make-up and lots of sweat and a streetwise attitude.

Sven Gali formed in 1987 and got their first album released in 1992. They had four successful singles, “Under the Influence”, “Tie-Dyed Skies”, “In My Garden” and the ballad “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore”. For their second album, they moved to Seattle and, under the influence of the grunge scene, they recorded a very different, “experimental” album called “Inwire” which did not sit well with fans. The band split up soon after.

For fans of post-GNR-advent glam metal / hard rock, “Sven Gali” is an album that packs in everything that was good about the scene: hard rocking and aggressive, street rat tracks along with acoustic, sentimental ballads. When the band is hot, they really pack a wallop. Check out “Under the Influence” with its powerful riff or “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow” or the band’s cover of the Teenage Head song, “Disgusteen”. There are also the slower songs like “In My Garden”, which is an electric ballad of the grittier type that sounds like it could almost be an Alice Cooper song and was no doubt meant to keep the guys interested more than the girls; the acoustic ballad “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore”, which could be on the same glam metal acoustic classics collection as GNR’s “Patience”, White Lion’s “When the Children Cry”, and Extreme’s “More Than Words”; and the acoustic/heavy electric power ballad “Whisper in the Rain” which is not as good as Skid Row’s “I Remember You” but in the same sonic family.

It’s a bit difficult for me to give this a fair rating because, on the one hand, this is an excellent collection of music representing the sounds of the subgenre, and yet on the other hand, it bears such strong resemblance to anything else in the subgenre that it seems to be a very successful generic glam metal / hard rock album from 1992. First you may notice how vocalist Dave Wanless sounds a lot like Sebastian Bach. No, he doesn’t have Bach’s guttural low end, nor does he exhibit the same energy that is in some of Bach’s expressive power screams, but he delivers perfectly well in a tone that is quite similar to Bach’s. Then you’ll likely also notice how many of the songs sound like something you already heard. Either Sven Gali are really awesome at fitting into their music scene or they are really awesome at mimicking their music scene. It’s not just the music and style. The lyrics, especially the ballads, sound like all these glam bands were just passing around the same scribbles and using them in their own songs. Here’s a line from “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore”: “If I could take you by the hand / I’d lead you to the ocean / Maybe the waves could / Wash away the pain”. Yes, girls, come on, gather round. We are truly the sensitive types. Or how about these lines from “Whisper in the Rain”: “From wherever you call / I will hear your voice crying / Tears don’t always ease the pain / Oh, no, no / You gotta stand tough / You gotta keep on tryin’ / I’ll always hear you whisper in the rain”. Sound familiar? Well, they still do a great job of being that kind of band!

There are 12 songs here and for an album of 1992 that’s a normal offering. Personally, I find two or three tracks a little unremarkable. I think this could have sounded more compact and complete with just 10 tracks. An album very well done but with little to set it apart from its peers. Three stars and a half for the sincere effort though I wouldn’t fault anyone for giving it four.