Released some eight months ago in America erstwhile Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach's Angel Down  finally gets a UK release thanks to DR2 Records and, perhaps as a sap to hose Bach fans who purchased the CD on import, the initial run comes complete with a bonus DVD containing behind the scenes footage of the recording of the album along with live performances of tracks from the album. 

Although it has been well over a decade since Bach left Skid Row, Angel Down has more than a few similarities to his former band, vocally the similarities are obvious even if Bach's voice doesn't sound as strong as it once did, but their are numerous musical elements as well that hark back to Skid Row. Take the opener of ‘Angel Down’ for example, which carries a strong Subhuman Race feel to it which is followed by the well worked ‘You Don’t Understand’, probably the best song on the album and then there's the much touted appearance of one Axl Rose. The fact that the Gun's And Roses head honcho contributes to three songs on Angel Down is hard to get away from but whether his additional vocals, not just on the cover of Aerosmith's ‘Back In The Saddle’ which, for the record, is not necessarily worse than the original but it’s not doing anything that different to it either, but also on ‘(Love Is) A Bitchslap’, which is the song getting a big push, and ‘Stuck Inside’ bring anything new is open to debate. 

It is not until ‘By Your Side’ that the first obligatory ballad appears. and it's a song that has a lot to thank ‘I Remember You’ for and the live acoustic version of the song is actually the highlight of the accompanying DVD.  From here onwards though it's pretty easy to ignore the album as many of the songs lean towards being boring and predictable  There are some grunge elements to deal with, ‘Take You Down With Me’ sounds like Skid Row trying to cover Alice In Chains’ Facelift album, but sadly nowhere nearly as good. The writing of Desmond Child on the final song ‘Falling Into You’ is very evident and is a good way for Bach to end things and it’s the album’s ‘Breakin’ Down’.  Unfortunately however, despite some good material on Angel Down that will be lapped up by Skid Row fans, it's too full of fillers and it all feels slightly disappointing and, even though the DVD is an interesting addition, if you already own the import there is nothing on it to warrant buying the album again.

Darren Brushneen