Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Crashdiet
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2013
Runtime: 60:43
Rating: 4/5
Crashdiet, probably one of the most beloved bands to fuel the boom of the »sleaze rock« scene at the start of the last decade, are back with their fourth album, »The Savage Playground«, their second with vocalist Simon Cruz. That means the band is successfully chasing off the dark cloud of the past that hung over them, from singer Dave Lepard’s suicide to the failed chapter with his replacement on vocals, H. Olliver Twisted, otherwise the frontman of Finland’s Reckless Love.
The album »Generation Wild«, released in 2010, opened plenty of doors for the band on the scene, cemented their status and spread their reputation. That the energy was flowing in the right direction was already confirmed by the move of the corporate-slick MTV to pull the album’s first single, the title track, from its schedule, finding its “excuse” (oh, how predictable) in obscene footage. The band also successfully exorcised the ghosts of the past with opening slots for Ozzy Osbourne and their heroes Mötley Crue in the fall of 2010. That was followed by a hugely successful album promo run that kicked off in Europe at the end of March 2011 with Hardcore Superstar and The 69 Eyes, and later wrapped up with a co-headlining UK tour alongside fellow Swedes Houston.
»The Savage Playground« is a new chapter in a musical story inspired by the mischief of idols Mötley Crue, Skid Row, Guns N’ Roses and Kiss, as well as the hardness of W.A.S.P. and the superb melodic bounty of fellow countrymen Europe. Despite the fact that you won’t find anything you haven’t heard before on »The Savage Playground« either, we can declare the new album a successfully passed maturity exam, one with which Crashdiet have kept themselves at the tip of the new-era sleaze rock wave.
Here’s that trivially predictable stance of direct, predatory riffing that sticks to pure, classically oriented lines, leaving tons of room for plasma-hot melodies, both for the vocal delivery and for the venomously seductive guitar ornaments and soloing. So the masters of the Swedish rock and metal school once again, as expected, put an adrenaline-charged crescendo front and center, one that doesn’t buckle for a second in over an hour of playing and that makes every guy’s trousers a few sizes too small around the crotch. But »The Savage Playground« no longer necessarily presents Crashdiet as the embodiment of big party-time orgy excess. Crashdiet are, first and foremost, outstanding musicians, and »The Savage Playground« shows off that quality noticeably for the first time in their career. The new album carries a dark atmosphere that’s emphasized more than ever, with far more weight on building dynamic arrangements within individual songs.
Both the opening Change the World and Got A Reason in the middle of the album prove that Crashdiet have matured when it comes to deeper arrangements, in a bid to deliver even more music. Both feature exceptional instrumental middle sections where motivic turns conjure up matching turns in mood, adding a contrasting dramatic weight of Swedish neoclassicism to the development of the melody, while the central figure of the explosive Cruz vocals and the vocal harmonies, reaching their final chorus crescendo in the melodies, stays in focus throughout. This duality gets an absolute upgrade in the pointedly gloomy Snakes In Paradise, where orchestral string passages join the riffs in the outro, even echoing with a deliberate touch of dissonance, which creates a tangible feeling that we’re on an album with a meaningful name. Gates Of Babylon, as its title already hints, is seduced by the melos of using arabesques and puts the cherry on top of the band’s modern arrangement-driven condensing of musical content. Our habitat is a rondo of quasi-morality in the great game of capital, where under the guise of the mimicry of “refinement” we perform exactly the same tasks as other species in the galaxy. We feed and we reproduce. To keep our species going, we have to destroy space and other species. The eventual self-destruction of humankind is therefore inevitable, as good old Agent Smith already figured out in the film »The Matrix«. Hardly a rosy creative starting point for the band, but such are the times, and the thought is more relevant than ever.
Of course, moments of primal, adrenaline-itchy rock debauchery take the lead, as expected and demanded from a band of Crashdiet’s caliber. One of the many such moments is caught outstandingly by the excellent Cocaine Cowboys, a song that, with its compactness, melodic hunger and exceptional energy efficiency, only confirms the band’s artistic maturing. That track was rightfully released as a single back in mid-December 2012 and conjures up the album’s first peak. If Cocaine Cowboys was the first slap across the cheek from the left, Anarchy is its fitting follow-up blow from the right, while California brings in a touch of AOR engraving. The album never runs out of dynamic development and doesn’t let up in its voltage from the first second to the last! So what stays front and center on »The Savage Playground« is a manifesto of original sin in the making. It’s exactly what Crashdiet want and, let’s face it, exactly what we want from Crashdiet!
»The Savage Playground« is the album with which Crashdiet graduated. They have nothing left to fear, as they use it to cement and deepen their expressive character. The band is increasingly in demand in the USA too, having confirmed new shows across the Atlantic following their recent successful club wanderings over there, and the band’s first tour of Japan is also in the works. With the band’s lineup finally consolidating, further reinforced by an excellent new studio album, the doors to the global throne of the new »sleaze« are wide open for Crashdiet!
Line-up
Simon Cruz – guitar
Martin Sweet – guitar
Peter London – bass
Eric Young – drums
Production
Otto Wellton
Tracklist
1. Change The World
2. Cocaine Cowboys
3. Anarchy
4. California
5. Lickin’ Dog
6. Circus
7. Sin City
8. Got A Reason
9. Drinkin’ Without You
10. Snakes In Paradise
11. Damaged Kid
12. Excited
13. Garden Of Babylon
