Album Review - CRASHDIET

Crashdiet – The Savage Playground

Frontiers, 2013

7/10

Sweden’s Crashdiet are most commonly described as a glam rock band but they’re nothing of the sort. These guys are just straight-ahead, no-frills rock that doesn’t try to impress with technical flourishes or sheer heaviness. Because of their glam/sleeze image Crashdiet will always draw comparisons to 80s bands, however, musically they have more to do with Sleeze Beez and Sea Hags than Poison and Warrant. The Savage Playground is the band’s fourth album and first for Frontiers. This had the potential to be a great album, but I found myself losing interest about midway through. One surprising strong point is the use of layered background vocals on songs like “Change The World” and “Anarchy”, which are reminiscent of the techniques employed by the sadly forgotten T-Ride. The boogie rock single “Cocaine Cowboys” is a great song that would sit well on rock radio and is one of the highlights. “California”, the second single from the album, has a nifty groove that leads into a melodic chorus that slows down a bit before picking up again. “Circus” and “Sin City” round out the first half in a pleasant way, but then things begin to turn a little stale. “Got A Reason” and “Drinkin’ Without You” chug along uneventfully and regretfully suck some of the life from the album. Things never fully recover, and I found myself wishing the album had eight songs instead of 14. The Savage Playground is a convincing album with flashes of brilliance, but not all of the songs stand up to the standard set during the first half. With a little more focus Crashdiet stands poised to make major headway here in the U.S.

Crashdiet performs Wednesday, April 3 at G.B. Leighton’s Pickle Park in Fridley with support from Crucified Barbara and Snakeskyn Whiskey.