Skid Row
Skid Row

THE REVIEW

I'm faced with the debut album by Skid Row, an American band founded in 1987 in New Jersey, whose sound ranges from heavy metal to hard rock, but considered Glam Metal due to their style of dressing and hairstyles. The group achieved success after their first two albums: Skid Row (1989) and Slave To The Grind (1991), both still regarded as the group's best, both released by Atlantic Records. In 1989 the line-up consisted of Sebastian Bach, the sole vocalist, bassist Rachel Bolan, two guitarists Dave Sabo and Scotti Hill, and drummer Rob Affuso. As mentioned before, Skid Row is one of the band's most important albums: I was able to confirm this by analyzing and listening to the tracks it comprises, they are truly very beautiful.

The first song on the album is "Big Guns", a track with a good pounding riff; as usual, Sebastian Bach's voice is excellent.

"Sweet Little Sister", has a faster pace, the drumming is pounding and aggressive, and the solo is also very beautiful and fast, good work by Dave Sabo.

Next is "Can't Stand The Heartache", a very melodic song, followed by "Piece Of Me", a song that starts with a drum and bass introduction, but soon after you hear Sebastian Bach's voice, and also here, the solo is very nice.

Now, I describe the masterpiece of Skid Row, their (perhaps) most important song that made them significant: "18 And Life". The introduction is acoustic, but shortly after the acoustic part transforms into a distorted one. This song has very calm and melodic tones. I don't feel I can classify this track under the "heavy metal" genre, but I think the sound is more hard rock, despite the leader's voice, Sebastian Bach, being more intense than usual in the part preceding the solo.

"Rattlesnake Shake", is also a good job, which precedes "You Gone Wild", a song with a pounding rhythm that features choirs within the chorus, which accompany Bach's also very intense voice in this case.

"Here I Am" and "Makin' A Mess" are good songs, and in both, I've listened to great solos, and a good drumming accompaniment, constant throughout the song. Drummer Rob Affuso really put in the effort for these two songs, working excellently, without the slightest trace of mistakes.

"I Remember You", is very similar to "18 And Life", because it has more hard rock sounds: the track begins with an acoustic introduction and furthermore, maintains very calm rhythms, and even the solo and riff that you hear have almost nothing remotely comparable to metal solos and big riffs.

We close beautifully with "Midnight/Tornado", an excellent song, which also features choirs in the chorus, and again, the drumming accompaniment is always constant.

In conclusion: excellent work by Skid Row, the album that will project them towards success, but the positive streak of this incredible band will continue with the release of the equally beautiful Slave To The Grind.