MattA75's Full Review: Survival of the Sickest [PA] by Saliva
If you listen to Saliva's lead singer, Josey Scott, the kids of America are not alright. They want to rock, he says, and the garage bands aren't doing the trick. This is ironic, of course, for the simple fact that Saliva themselves had created a sub par major label debut and a decent follow up. But for all the swagger the band had in their songs, the songs themselves pointed at the band not really having much right to that swagger.
That all changes on the band's latest effort, Survival of the Sickest. While not a perfect effort, it is by far their most consistent effort to date, a good mix of hard rockers, mid tempo rockers, and reflective ballads.
The first single and title track (but not the album's opening track) is thus far one of the best two or three rock singles of the year. From Scott's opening yell of "1,2,3,4," the song just absolutely rocks. It also has more swagger than any Saliva track that preceded it, and it earns every bit of that swagger, be it thanks to the solid guitar work from Wayne Swinny and Chris D'Abaldo, or the workmanlike job from the rhythm section of bassist Dave Novotny and drummer Paul Crosby. In fact, this song is one of the few times I like Crosby's work on this record; oh so often he sounds like he's playing the same damn thing over and over.
Thankfully, the rap-rock that colored most of the band's major label debut, Every Six Seconds, and some of 2002's Back Into Your System, is all but gone now. This is a rock band, and once again the songs win out because of this focus. While Scott's lyrics have never been great (with some very notable exceptions), they are improved here, even if he touches on many of the same themes that he's already covered. He also takes his shots, some veiled (which seem to be directed at his ex-girlfriend), and some not so veiled (attacking Chad Kroeger ("Here's to all the f*cking money you made, so take your nickel back and default the rest of your take") and The Dixie Chicks ("And I heard the Dixie Chickens run their mouths in a foreign land, and then try to take back everything they ever said")).
The grinding bit of hard rock that opens the album, Rock and Roll Revolution, is the type of "rage against the music industry" song that rock has been looking for since the teen pop explosion of the late 1990s. You might look at that title and roll your eyes, but it's surprisingly solid lyrically, and musically it features a solid guitar riff and an even better solo.
But in terms of angry, nothing quite compares to the most nu-metal song on the record, F*ck All Y'all, which encompasses Josey's feelings on Chad Kroeger (see above). It isn't the greatest song, but it's one of those songs where if you've had a bad day, it has its usefulness.
The ballads show the band has a bit of diversity in them. Razor's Edge, which unfortunately features 3 Doors Down lead singer Brad Arnold singing backing vocals and a verse, has a bit of a Lynyrd Skynyrd and Allman Brothers feel to it, although the chorus becomes a bit more muddy. I really wish they would experiment with that type of sound a bit more, because this song is a surely positive result. I just wish Brad Arnold would go away...something about his voice just annoys the ever living sh*t out of me. Maybe it's the fact that his voice is on the radio 3X per hour.
No Regrets (Vol 2) is a mix of melodic balladry and loud guitar solos. The little bit of strings that is used in the song are used just enough to give the song an emotional lift, but not too much where it begins to make the song sound like a parody of itself. Open Eyes is probably the biggest dud on the record, sounding much too much like a 3 Doors Down reject.
I really like the way Josey Scott has progressed as a vocalist. On Every Six Seconds, you merely saw the potential he had, mostly in small little spurts. On this record though, he's able to give plenty of time to each of his vocal personas, including some really nice vocals on Bait & Switch.
Another surprise is that the second half of the record doesn't lose steam. Songs like I Want You and Carry On rock hard, both featuring nice bits of guitar interplay. In fact, the biggest dud for a rocker is probably the "hidden" track, Sex Drugs and Rock N Roll, which is a bit too cliche for me.
My only other problem would be that the album tends to begin sounding very samey in spots. While the group has improved their efforts to come up with more defining guitar lines and riffs, they do still have a tendency to over-rely on power chords.
Despite this, and my own low expectations, Survival of the Sickest is a good rock record that shows Saliva is continuing to develop as a band. They may just be ready to unveil something truly great for album #4.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
![Survival of the Sickest [PA] by Saliva](http://di1.shopping.com/images1/pi/cd/21/ff/2002280934-177x150-0-0.jpg)
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.