Saving Abel: Self Titled
Editorial
The songs on Saving Abel's eponymous debut album traverse the staple themes of American hard rock: headin' to the city, havin' some fun, fast cars, chicks and getting loaded. There must be something about that heady, masculine combination of leather pants, black t-shirts, power chords and a distortion pedal that naturally lends itself to being paired with incredibly vacuous lyrics. Or perhaps it's true that empty vessels make the most noise.
Saving Abel made their mark last year with the single Addicted, and that track is indicative of the album as a whole: straight-up modern American hard rock, of the variety that Nickelback have so famously made their own, much to the derision of the rest of the music world. There are the obligatory rock ballads, She Got Over Me and 18 Days, which are essentially rock songs with some acoustic guitar thrown in for the quiet bits. These actually tend to be the stronger tracks on the album, with more shades of grey and nuance than the straight-ahead rock numbers, and as Guns N Roses showed us, if ever there was a chance to throw in an extended guitar solo, it is during the crescendo of a rock ballad.
There is not a lot of new ground broken on Saving Abel and many of the songs sound like you've heard them somewhere before. The band remains steadfastly faithful to the conventions of the genre, and as a result the music not only sounds like other bands, but it also starts to sound quite generic as the album progresses. The musicianship is tight enough and frontman, Jason Null, has the voice to carry the songs, but in the end you come away feeling like you have heard it all before.
Tracks:
1. New Tattoo
2. Addicted
3. She Got Over Me
4. 18 Days
5. Drowning (Face Down)
6. In God's Eyes
7. Sailed Away
8. Beautiful Day
9. Out of My Face
10. Running From You
11. Beautiful You
Cameron Weston, March 2009
Find live music on Citysearch here.
User Feedback
Your Feedback
0 User review (add yours)