Crashdïet: ‘Rust’
CRASHDÏET
RUST
Released on September 13, 2019 (Frontiers Music Srl)
Review:
The band that never dies! Faced with more adversity than just about any other sleaze rock group that has emanated since the early 2000s, Crashdïet keep suffering setbacks and coming back stronger than ever. After releasing a stellar debut — almost revolutionary — album (Rest In Sleaze), Crashdïet were stopped dead in their tracks when their founder and frontman Dave Lepard sadly took his own life at the age of 25 on January 20, 2006. Understandably, and perhaps to emulate Led Zeppelin‘s lead when drummer John Bonham passed away, the remaining Crashdïet members — guitarist Martin Sweet, bassist Peter London and drummer Eric Young — called it quits before deciding a few months later to forge ahead by keeping the band’s legacy alive and keeping Lepard‘s spirit alive as long as they could. Next up was Reckless Love frontman H. Olliver Twisted (also known as Olli Herman) but after about a year and a half in mid-2008, the singer and the rest of the band agreed to go their separate ways. About a year later, former Jailbeat frontman Simon Cruz was announced as Crashdïet‘s new lead vocalist, which resulted in the sublime record Generation Wild which topped the Sleaze Roxx’s Top Ten Albums of 2010. After another great release consisting of The Savage Playground in 2013, Cruz decided to rather unprofessionally take his ball home and leave without any notice while the band was on a mini-tour of Japan.
It’s tough enough surviving a change of lead vocalists once or even twice (just ask Van Halen who have been spinning their wheels in terms of creating new music ever since having Extreme‘s Gary Cherone as their third singer) but surviving a fourth change in lead vocalists could well be fatal for any other band. In fact, Cruz‘s departure from Crashdïet looked like it could have been that nail in the coffin as Sweet started a new project titled Sweet Creature (whose debut album The Devil Knows My Name topped the Sleaze Roxx’s Top Ten Albums of 2016) and he also looked to be busy working as Sister‘s bassist. The liner notes in the CD booklet for Crashdïet‘s new album Rust suggest that the band had actually disbanded for a while after Cruz‘s departure since the group collectively thanks manager Sven Morén in the liner notes for “getting Crashdïet back together.” Indeed, Morén is the one that suggested that new lead vocalist Gabriel Keyes front the band and the rest is history.
I must say that Crashdïet‘s new album Rust has been one of the most anticipated releases of the year for me along with Steel Panther‘s Heavy Metal Rules and Eclipse‘s Paradigm. All of these bands’ records are routinely among the top albums of the year for both Sleaze Roxx and its readers. The only big difference between the three is that Crashdïet‘s lead vocalist position has changed four times. Given that Crashdïet have only released five studio albums thus far in 19 years — which is quite understandable with the singer retention issues that they have experienced — the group with its new singer has to prove itself over and over on each album. Will the new singer be better than the previous one? How will the older Crashdïet sound with the new singer? How will the new singer impact the songwriting for the new record? All of these questions have to be answered for just about every Crashdïet album (except for the transition from 2010’s Generation Wild to 2013’s The Savage Playground since Simon Cruz was the singer on both albums).
The great news is that Gabriel Keyes has a fantastic voice and arguably seemingly more range than at least Lepard and Cruz. Given that almost two years have already passed since Crashdïet first announced Keyes as their new lead vocalist and a number of singles (“We Are The Legion,” “Rust,” “Reptile,” “Idiots” and “In The Maze”) were released during that timespan, any questions about whether Keyes would be up to the task had pretty much already been answered. I know that a few “fans” have taken shots at Keyes over his “Justin Bieber look” but holy shit, get over it people. In an interview with Sleaze Roxx only nine days ago, Keyes advised that the new Crashdïet album was the heaviest yet and for the most part, he is right in that regard. This time around, Crashdïet seem to have incorporated a lot of modern metal like guitar sounds but they still have the killer melodies prevalent on previous albums. The results actually work quite well and this may just be the album of the year!
There is a bit of everything on Rust from the heavier rockers such as “Reptile” and the tile track, some surprising Accept like classical influenced guitar parts and “speaker” like vocals on “Into The Wild”, some easy to sing along songs such as on “Crazy” and a great anthem in “We Are The Legion.” What sets Rust apart from a lot of albums released these days are the great melodies throughout all of the songs. The one track that I could do without is the ballad “Waiting For Your Love” which sees Crashdïet venture into H.E.A.T‘s ill-advised Into The Great Unknown experimentation with the seemingly heavy keyboards. It’s really the only track that I think of skipping when listening to Rust. Aside from that, all of the songs on Rust are good to great ones. It’s really great to see a band still putting out real quality music more than 19 years after its start and especially after starting so strong with their debut full-length album Rest In Sleaze back in 2005.
You’ve heard of the Big Four (Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax). When I think of Crashdïet, I think of the Big Five which also includes Hardcore Superstar, H.E.A.T, Eclipse and Crazy Lixx. All of those bands have been putting out some quality music over the last two decades or so and would be among the most popular hard rock bands in the world had they been around during the ’80s’ golden era for hard rock / heavy metal. These five bands have released some of the greatest albums of the last two decades and are, in my opinion, not getting all of the accolades and credit that they rightfully deserve. Despite the quality records, the Big Five hardly make their way to North America to tour and play concerts. Whatever the case, Crashdïet‘s Rust continues the fine tradition of killer albums from the Swedish Kings of Sleaze. Hopefully, Keyes will be in the band for many years to come — if Keyes is right about the camaraderie between the band members, this shouldn’t be an issue — as I think that even though Rust is a phenomenal album, the best is yet to come with Keyes in Crashdïet.
Track List:
01. Rust
02. Into The Wild
03. Idiots
04. In The Maze
05. We Are The Legion
06. Crazy
07. Parasite
08. Waiting For Your Love
09. Reptile
10. Stop Weirding Me Out
11. Filth & Flowers
Band Members:
Martin Sweet – guitar
Gabriel Keyes – vocals
Peter London – bass
Eric Young – drums
Additional Musicians:
Eric Bazilian – acoustic guitar (5), synthesizers (5), piano (8), guitar (8)
Johnny Gunn – backing vocals (7)
Conny Bloom – guitar intro (10)
Production:
Produced by Martin Sweet (1 to 4, 6, 8 to 11)
Mixed by Chris Laney
Mastered by Claes Persson
Produced by Eric Bazilian (5)
Recorded and produced by Chris Laney (7)
Band Websites:
Official Website
Facebook
Reviewed by Olivier for Sleaze Roxx, September 2019
Crashdïet‘s “We Are The Legion” video:
CRASHDÏET – We are the legion – OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO
Directed by Jimmy Johansson / Super Lino Puro Productionshttp://www.crashdiet.orgTour Dates: http://www.crashdiet.org/tourMerch: http://www.dietrecords.orgBo…
Crashdïet‘s “Reptile” video:
CRASHDÏET – Reptile (Official Music Video)
Subscribe and get “Reptile” delivered as a wav or mp3: http://www.crashdiet.org/newsletterSpotify: https://spoti.fi/2R4vSXCApple Music: https://apple.co/2R2A…
Crashdïet‘s “Idiots” video:
Crashdiet – “Idiots” (Official Music Video)
Subscribe here for more videos – http://radi.al/SubscribeFrontiers | From the album RUST. Get your copy NOW: http://radi.al/Rust – Scandinavian Fans: http:/…
Crashdïet‘s “In The Maze” lyric video:
CRASHDÏET – “In The Maze” (Official Lyric Video) #Crashdïet #InTheMaze
Subscribe here for more videos – http://radi.al/SubscribeFrontiers | From the album RUST. Get your copy NOW: http://radi.al/Rust | Scandinavian Fans: http:/…
Crashdïet‘s “Rust” video:
CRASHDÏET – “RUST” (Official Music Video)
Subscribe here for more videos – http://radi.al/SubscribeFrontiers | From the album RUST. Get your copy NOW: http://radi.al/Rust – Scandinavian Fans: http:/…