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SKIDROW - SUBHUMAN RACE ALBUM REVIEW

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There used to be a fuzzy and ambiguous line separating hard rock from heavy metal. Back in the mid to late 80s, mainstream media labeled groups such as Poison, Bon Jovi and Guns N’ Roses as “heavy metal” bands. As there was no metal police back then (aka the Archives) or any random thrash metal fascist troll, to point out the metal content in an artist’s repertoire, the record buying public accepted such sweeping generalizations without questions asked. Of course, as the 90s arrived and the internet flourished, knowledge about music genres was spread widely by those who were vested with the authority to set the guidelines and the rules on what deserves to be called “heavy metal”.

We do know that many metal bands did not start as such but instead, toyed with other genres of music. This is the case with Skid Row, a group which rose to prominence in the late 80s; a relative contemporary of bands like Warrant, Ratt and Guns N’ Roses, the group was, first and foremost, a hard rock band. With their first two albums, Sebastian and his band mates attempted to reach rock stardom with their trademark street orientated, gritty hard rock; “18 and Life” and “I Remember You” were radio ready, commercialized anthems geared for MTV rotation. It was not until 1995’s “Subhuman Race” that Skid Row finally shed its last vestiges of hard rock.

Skid Row’s third album at last fully embraced heavy metal and experimented with various sub-styles of the genre. First track “My Enemy” is a groovy stomper while the title song is a full-on thrashing effort. There is a clear and evident groove influence to a lot of the songs, thanks to the band’s association with Pantera, who by this point, was commonly recognized for their power groove style. Still, the band hasn’t fully abandoned their pop roots and songs like “Breakin’ Down” and “Into Another” have a very agreeable sound which is sure to please fans of Def Leppard. “Breakin’ Down” is especially noteworthy for its power ballad/AOR quality, starting with an acoustic section before going full throttle on the guitar distortion later. What’s really remarkable with a lot of the songs is that they have an element of being “alternative” (this is not exactly the correct word but I really couldn’t think of a more apt term) without sounding in the least bit like a grunge band or group from Seattle. This can be observed in songs such as “Firesign” and “Beat Yourself Blind”.

Of course, a lot of the songs work partly because of Sebastian Bach’s notable vocals. At a time (the 90s) when it was de rigueur to use growling (ala Phil Anselmo and Max Cavalera) as a vocal crutch, Bach stuck to the traditional heavy metal singing style. At times, he sounds like Rob Halford, at others, like a more well articulated Axl Rose. He can sing in the grittier style which is a requirement in metal, without coming across as soft, unlike perhaps singers of pop/hard rock bands like Firehouse and White Lion. His singing is actually bearable and not prone to excess, as is the case with cringe-inducing vocalists such as Jon Oliva, David Defei, and (sometimes) Blitz Ellsworth.

The riffwork of Dave “The Snake” Sabo and Scotti Hill is also a formidable building block of each of the album’s songs and is a vital component of Skid Row’s song craft. Sabo and Hill’s riffs are razor sharp and provide just the right amount of audio dynamite to move the songs forward. As stated earlier, both guitarists were influenced in the mid 90s by their comrade, Dimebag Darrell Abbott who popularized groove metal in a way which even groove pioneer, Prong, could not. But Skid Row’s axe slingers have stripped and trimmed the fat out of Pantera’s power groove style and came up with their own grooving brand of heavy metal. This can be attested in songs like “Iron Will” and “Frozen” and the groove in several other tracks do not devolve into cheap mallcore but are well integrated (see “Eileen”). Also, the riffs can be clearly heard without sounding sludgy like a lot of bands from New Orleans or the South.

To conclude, it surely is a bummer that the band wasn’t able to follow this with another proper release as the two albums that followed aren’t even in the metal realm. The lack of real honest to goodness, leather and spikes donning heavy metal bands in the 90s and the new millennium have led to the oversaturation of the scene with death metal/black metal acts and is indeed a sorry state of the heavy music scene back in the decade of political correctness. Sure, there was still the old guard who kept the torch burning (Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath) but the bands that used to sing about motorcycles and leather clad chicks were considered passé at that point. “Subhuman Race” is considered an oddity as it appeared after the death of grunge and the reinvigoration of corporate pop music. I prefer to think of it as the last hurrah of heavy metal and the final authentic heavy metal album.

Track List  :

1. My Enemy
2. Firesign
3. Bonehead
4. Beat Yourself Blind
5. Eileen
6. Remains to Be Seen
7. Subhuman Race
8. Frozen
9. Into Another
10. Face Against My Soul
11. Medicine Jar
12. Breakin' Down
13. Iron Will

Line Up  :

Scotti Hill Guitars, Vocals (backing)
Dave "The Snake" Sabo Guitars
Rachel Bolan Bass
Rob Affuso Drums
Sebastian Bach Vocals

**Disclaimer*** 

I do not own any copyright for any of this material!
Copyright belongs to Skid Row and 
Atlantic Recordings! 
Purchase your remastered copy today!


SKID ROW - SUBHUMAN RACE FULL ALBUM 
( Poor Audio Quality )