“Badass” reminds me instantly of “American Badass” by Kid Rock, well, one of his better moments in deed, but somehow it sounds pretty strange from Saliva this hardcore/hip hop approach, on the other hand, “Badass” is much better than they radio friendly ballad like tunes such as “Never Should’ve Let You Go” for instance. And “Under Your Skin”, the band’s seventh studio album it’s pretty colorful, if not quiet eclectic, there’s something for everybody, maybe they try a little bit to hard to satisfy a too large audience. Or the media. But – really – Billboard it’s not everything.
Still, Josey Scott and his band mates managed to write a few good new themes and songs. “Burn It Up” it’s another piece with hardcore roots and rapping leads shifted with clean choruses, it have burning grooves and heavy guitars.“Hate Me” sounds like a twisted Linkin Park theme, “Prove Me Wrong” have some after-grunge taste and rock tension, “Toxic Suicide” is dark and pulsing, but the rest of the songs are all kind of lyrical cliches, and some of them are quit pathetic. And heavily boring. 10 tracks, almost 7 ballads, anyway, most of their new songs don’t get higher than mid-tempos, it’s a little bit too soft and not enough hard. I kind of like them back at the break of the new century, now they seems to lost their guts.