Sebastian Bach – Child Within The Man

Ten years have passed since the release of the previous album from former Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach and Give ‘Em Hell, was his strongest release to date. It took Bach more than a decade to release his first solo album after parting ways with Skid Row in 1996 so waiting a decade for a new album by Bach is not something we haven’t tried before. Still, it is a rather long time without new music. In the meantime constant rumours of reunion with Skid Row were swarming and truth be told they have been constantly ever since that dismissal in 1996. It’s something that Bach and Skid Row have to live with.

Skid Row has been fronted with many different people almost three decades since Bach’s dismissal, but when they were joined by Erik Grönwall in 2022 and released strong The Gang’s All Here it seemed that the band has finally managed to create excitement about them. Even the majority of sceptics, among Skid Row fans, couldn’t help but acknowledge the fact that the band was on a right track. And then Grönwall left the band. Jeeeeeez not again!

Oh well, back to Child Within The Man, Bach’s only fourth studio album. The 11-track album was produced and mixed by Michael “Elvis” Baskette, best known for his work with Alter Bridge and several of the band members’ side projects. And if you know his work, you know knows what he’s doing, so this is a good modern sounding record. Bach is also holding on to including a few prominent guest appearances, with Steve Stevens (Billy Idol) and John 5 (Mötley Crüe) returning and Orianthi (ex- Alice Cooper) making her debut with Bach. They each also co-wrote their respective songs, and a couple of songs were co-written by Alter Bridge’s Myles Kennedy. The core of the band sees the return of Devin Bronson on guitars, with Todd Kerns (of Slash’s solo band) joining on bass and Jeremy Colson (of Steve Vai and Marty Friedman)  handling the drum duties.

The album starts just as furiously as you’d expect with blistering “Everybody Bleeds”. The energy, catchiness, flow and nonetheless dynamics of the song are flawless. Bach and the band are firing on all cylinders, and this is basically as good as a Bach solo song gets. “Freedom” is a classic 1989 Skid Row tune, and “(Hold On) to the Dream” starts off as a ballad, before it kicks into a massive Black Sabbath riff. Since it also rounds up a big 80’s Sunset Strip gang chorus and “What Do I Got to Lose?” is as groovy as it’s catchy and as such works really well as the first single.

“Hard Darkness” features some great heavy guitar work and that psychedelic quality which characterized several of the songs on Give ‘Em Hell.

The following few songs seem more like space fillers, despite one of them, “F.U.”, featuring an out-of-this-world guitar solo by Stevens.

Things do pick-up some on the intense “Crucify Me”, before they drop noticeably on the closing two tracks, one of them, “To Live Again”, being one of the those big 80’s ballads, which is something the previous album lacked. Unfortunately, it’s one of those forgettable ones, nowhere near to matching the ballads from Angel Down, let alone those Bach recorded with Skid Row.

Child Within The Man has been a long time coming, and it’s a good record. It’s also a typical Bach record, so you’ll get just about everything you like and don’t like about him here. It’s not his strongest, and it’s not his weakest either.

Throughout his solo career, Bach has released some really good music and some that is anything but, but through it all majority of fans see those albums as something to entertain themselves with while waiting for him to get back with Skid Row. With that pressure from fans and media constantly growing and Skid Row currently being without a singer (Lzzy Hale is guesting as a vocalist on some of the forthcoming shows) the chances of them reuniting with Bach soon are significant. And while that might be a tempting idea, it doesn’t seem like a good idea. There is a reason why it never happened before and no amount of pressure from fans or Bach to get together is good enough reason to actually do so.

As years go my it seems that putting back Skid Row together has become Bach main focus. Endless are his comments that he can’t see why the original line-up is not coming back together. He even started putting former Skid Row drummer Rob Affuso in videos and having him guest on his solo shows. His set list too, to this day, consists 90% of Skid Row songs and then one or two of his solo songs. Sebastian Bach has a strong new album and perhaps three decades since parting ways it’s time for him to just let it go and focus (more) on his solo career. There is lots of good stuff in his solo catalogue. First step would be to stop talking about reunion and start playing his solo material live. Sure, that won’t sell as many tickets, but it’s a step forward to establishing himself as a solo artist. A couple of decades into his solo recording career, perhaps it’s about time.

As for Skid Row, it all looked so well for them with the release of their last album – as if they’ve finally found their second youth. Hale is a good temporary fill, but not a long-term solution, so, perhaps it’s time to either give it yet another shot with yet another singer or simply call it a day.

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