Skid Row – Rise Of The Damnation Army – United World Rebellion: Chapter Two [EP] (2014)

Skid Row are back again. And “We Are The Damned” it’s a kick-ass rock’n’roll anthem, one of the best Skid Row songs they ever delivered. It’s irresistible and unstoppable. As rock music should be. The rest of the EP it’s composed of 3 more rocking heavy metal flavored songs, a quite forgettable balled and 2 solid rock covers: Queens’s “Sheer Heart Attack”, and the Aerosmith’s classic “Rats In The Cellar”. Except the 2 covers, the build-up of this EP it’s similar with the last year released “Chapter One” EP.
This is a solid, enjoyable, American heavy metal release, but I’m not sure if it’s good enough to bring back Skid Row to where they belong, at the top of the rock. If back in ’96 opening for Kiss felt to Rachel Bolan unacceptable and finally lead to fire Sebastian Bach, the guys now opening in Europe for Saxon, a good, but mediocre British heavy metal band.
Solinger it’s for 15 years now the lead singer of Skid Row and he’s doing a really fine job, no use to wait for Bach to come back, but enjoy this fine piece of American rock release.

The two opening tracks, “We Are The Damned” and “Give It The Gun”, are not songs, but hand grenades. “We Are The Damned” it’s a powerful heavy-rock anthem, fair pair of “Kings Of Demolition” and definitively a song to scream along at the Skid Row shows. “Give It The Gun” it’s build upon some Judas Priest flavored riffs and it’s another great heavy metal hurricane. Then comes “Catch Your Fall”, a pretty mediocre and forgettable ballad. Solinger sings really nicely, but the song it’s totally boring. “Damnation Army” brings heavy metal back and it’s another fast and furious head-banger. “Zero Day” – just like “Get Up” on the previous EP – it’s a darker, more out of the box track, with a twisted rhythmic build-up and some wicked riffs, I enjoy it, but maybe some conservative metalheads will consider it too “experimental”. And then we’ve got – as bonus – two classic, strong rock covers. Cool. “Sheer Heart Attack” have a neat, punk-rock power, while “Rats In The Cellar” it’s a fast and furious version of the original where the punk energy and the strong riffs are making a killer pair.

Tracklist:

01. We Are The Damned
02. Give It The Gun
03. Catch Your Fall
04. Damnation Army
05. Zero Day
06. Sheer Heart Attack (Queen cover)
07. Rats In The Cellar (Aerosmith cover)

Buy it or steal it, mandatory for Skid Row and heavy metal fans.

Johnny Solinger (vocals)
Scotti Hill (guitar)
Rachel Bolan (bass)
Snake Sabo (guitar)
Rob Hammersmith (drums)

Skid Row – Official Site
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Skid Row @ Twitter

And here’s the full Skid Row show from The Whisky A Go-Go Show this year, the recording do not sound outstanding, but it’s good to see the guys playing all those old and new Skid Row songs!