SLAVE TO THE SYSTEM

Slave to the System

Spitfire
rating icon 6 / 10

Track listing:

01. Stigmata
02. Ruby Wednesday
03. Slave To the System
04. Live This Life
05. Cruze Out of Control
06. Abyss
07. Disinfected
08. Gone Today
09. Will You Be There
10. Leaves
11. Ragdoll
12. Walk the Line


Call me crazy, but I have the feeling a QUEENSRŸCHE and BROTHER CANE meeting-of-the-minds was about as excitedly hoped for by the general public as a Bea Arthur sex tape. And why is it that when a band of faded rock stars does their "hip, new, fresh" side project, someone in the photo always has to wear those retarded tinted wraparound shades? I'll bet you a stack of SAMANTHA 7 CDs against your 58 and BRIDES OF DESTRUCTION collection that at least one of these guys, disregarding the entire twisted delete-bin wreckage of the CMC Records catalog, is thinking "yeah man, this is gonna put us back on top of the charts!" You don't find optimism that high-grade at the Special fucking Olympics.

Okay, enough cheap shots. BROTHER CANE was always an underrated band, and Damon Johnson's got a great voice, somewhere between bluesy grit and AOR polish. This is a straight-up, solid, inoffensive hard rock record with the occasional unfortunate tendency to mimic AUDIOSLAVE (see "Ragdoll" and the unfortunate "Cruze out of Control"). When the band isn't swinging from the nuts of Chris Cornell, they acquit themselves fairly well with some hard-driving, hooky, if ultimately faceless rock and roll anthems.

SLAVE TO THE SYSTEM are most effective on the slower, more heartfelt and introspective stuff, like "Live This Life" — music that sounds, in all honesty, not too far removed from the late '90s QUEENSRŸCHE stuff everyone bitches about. (Between this and Geoff Tate's solo album, it ought to at least be apparent to even the most optimistic old-schooler that no one in the band is jonesing to go back to their power metal roots.) Even here, though, there's this congenial blandness — listen to ballad "Abyss" and try to picture any one of fifty bands turning it in as their radio single. It's not hard to do.

I have no doubt that the intentions of Messrs. Rockenfield, Gray, Glick and Johnson are pure here, regardless of what they think the record might do in the marketplace. Hell, if you're thinking of "Q2K" or "Hear In the Now Frontier" only, the music of SLAVE TO THE SYSTEM isn't much different from either QUEENSRŸCHE or BROTHER CANE. Maybe writing CANDLEBOX ballads (see "Leaves") and second-tier hard rockers is a blast, or maybe these four guys just really like hanging out and haunting the studio together.

Regardless, the results are squarely in the "footnote to history" category, destined to occupy the bargain bin next to SOULMOTOR, METHODS OF MAYHEM and that record where the BULLETBOYS went grunge. Nice try, nothing that blatantly sucks, but I think it's safe to say no one's starting their Top Ten of 2006 lists just yet.

Author:
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).