Sebastian Bach is a heavy metal & hard rock singer from the USA, enjoying a successful forty year career as both a solo artist and former lead singer of American rock & metal band Skid Row. Bach has released four solo studio albums – ‘Angel Down’ (2007), ‘Kicking And Screaming’ (2011), ‘Give ‘Em Hell’ (2014), and ‘Child Within The Man’ (2024).
Known for his powerful vocal roar, Bach is one of rock and metal’s instantly recognisable vocalists, realising his talent at just eight years old when he joined a choir! And during his incredible four decade career, he has fronted Kid Wikkid (1983-1985), Skid Row (1987-1997), acted on Broadway, starred in films and television, and of course, maintains a successful solo career – a solo career that hasn’t seen or heard new music for ten years! ‘Child Within The Man’ is Bach‘s first album for a decade, featuring eleven songs across forty eight heavy hitting hard rocking metal edged minutes! Opener ‘Everybody Bleeds’ is a brutal-ish barrage of fast paced metal to get pulses racing and hearts pounding, Bach one of metal and rocks veteran performers, but nowhere near the twilight of his career! I was fortunate to have seen Bach live in concert when he fronted Skid Row on the bands 1995 Subhuman Race Tour, the direction, sound and feel of ‘Everybody Bleeds’ taking me back to that glorious time. A barnstorming opening salvo, ‘Child Within The Man’ marches on with the foot stomping ‘Freedom’, sharing more than just a passing resemblance to Bach‘s time in Skid Row. And to be honest why wouldn’t it – it’s the same singer singing metal and rock! And for me, Skid Row have never been the same since Bach left.
And after two heavy hitting songs to open the album, ‘Child Within The Man’ enters power balladry with the mellow ‘(Hold On) To The Dream’ – for all of the first minute or so anyway! ‘Cause ‘(Hold On) To The Dream’ turns into a mighty foot stomper that’s gonna devastate the ground it stomps on – earthquakes forming all around the world as a result! The aggressive and in your face nature here is exactly what I’d expect from Bach – the grammatically incorrect ‘What Do I Got To Lose?’ entering the fray on the crest of a thunderstorm! A thunderstorm that has a strong Southern rock bite to it, ‘What Do I Got To Lose?’ bombastic to the max, maintaining the albums fiery intensity! For Bach has a fiery persona that shines through his music, ‘Hard Darkness’ displaying a Grungy feel. You all remember Grunge, the nineties musical evolution that “apparently” was gonna kill off metal and rock! Well where’s Grunge now eh – metal and rock is still here, just as strong as it’s always been, maybe even stronger!
The iconic sound of traditional heavy metal rises high from ‘Child Within The Man’ courtesy of ‘Future Of Youth’, adopting an energetic stride pattern as it gets going proper! Every song heard so far has been bursting with metal and rock nuances, Bach not veering too far from his roots – which is a very good thing from my point of my view, as I certainly wouldn’t want him to collaborate with a rock guitarist and singer to pen an instrumental double album based on plays by a German playwright! Fuck that! But let’s get back to Bach, and the thunderous ‘Vendetta’, wreaking havoc all across the land with immense vim and vigour – nearby walls crumbling and buildings shaking! The energy and oomph here is sky high, ‘Vendetta’ displaying the most melodic feel of any song heard so far. And I think we all know what Bach‘s attitude is by now, so I’m not even gonna tell ya what the song title ‘F.U.’ is likely to stand for – I think it’s fairly fucking obvious! ‘F.U.’ is fast paced, punk-ish heavy metal with a shit tonne of head bang ability, ‘Child Within The Man’ coming at ya right from the heart of the heavy metal genre. And as the song comes to a close, I guess it wasn’t that obvious what “F.U.” stood for after all!
Intensity remains at maximum as ‘Child Within The Man’ surges forth with probably the heaviest song up to this point – ‘Crucify Me’ a menacing thumper that’s gonna blow a massive hole right through the centre of the Earth! There’s just no escaping the weighty oomph that flows freely outta the album just like lava flowing outta an erupting volcano – ‘Child Within The Man’ a fiery, red hot scorcher of an album! And entering the fray as the most melodious song on offer, ‘About To Break’ is up tempo and energetic with a cracking sing a long style chorus – Bach not letting the albums overall intensity level drop for a single second! Closing the album, ‘To Live Again’ brings a change of atmosphere, hymn-like balladry taking front and centre – not to mention the mighty anthemic nature too! The last forty eight minutes have been a terrific trek through metal and rock by a performer still performing at the top of his game – let’s hope it’s not another ten years before we hear new music from Sebastian Bach.
Overall, heavy hitting metal and rock with attitude, ‘Child Within The Man’ is menacing and aggressive yet highly melodic and immensely infectious.
TRACKLIST
Everybody Bleeds
Freedom
(Hold On) To The Dream
What Do I Got To Lose?
Hard Darkness
Future Of Youth
Vendetta
F.U.
Crucify Me
About To Break
To Live Again
Sebastian Bach: Facebook
Release Year: 2024
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Category: Album
Country: USA
Reviewed by Iron Mathew for Frenzy Fire and Metal-Roos.
