Stephen
After a struggling comeback in 'Angel Down', a record that's too metal for him and too many excessive screaming, SEBASTIAN BACH tried to play a safer way, a hard rock record that he excels in 'Kicking and Screaming'. Despite the album title, Bach reduced the unnecessary screaming part and focus more on the normal singing, but obviously, it only draws a picture of how poor his vocal has deteriorate in the past 20 years, especially if compared to his prime era in SKID ROW.
Nick Sterling, a young talented kid, was found by him and I myself also impressed with his playing here. The biggest problem is on the songwriting department. If Bach can't sing as well as he used to, at least he needs to ask help from a prominent writer, but loads of average songs scattered here definitely not a good idea to capture a new market.
Some good songs I found here are 'Kicking & Screaming' with a modern riffing style; 'Dance On Your Grave' which sounds like a left-over of 'Slave To The Grind' but still too modern for my taste; the three ballads here are also enjoyable, 'I'm Alive', 'Dream Forever', and 'Wishin'; and the heavy tune, 'One Good Reason'. Sadly, those are in the 7/10 range except 'Wishin' that I rated higher.
Several other awful songs such as 'Live The Life', 'As Long As I Got The Music', or 'Lost In The Light' are among tracks that I always skipped. 'My Own Worst Enemy' is also Bach at its worst vocal performance. It's a disappointing result, to be honest, far from what I expected and judging by many rave reviews, this is a big let down, especially considering that Bach is one of my fave singers of all time. He seriously needs to team up with a great writer, Chris Laney or Dennis Ward could be a great choice.