Josey Scott – Vocals
Wayne Swinny – Guitar
Dave Novotny – Guitar
Paul Crosby – Bass
Jonathan Montoya – Drum
A little over a decade into their careers Saliva releases their fifth album. Since the signing to Island Records, Saliva
has hit their strides with a multi-platinum selling record and many radio hits including a #1 single “Always.”
Beginning with the release of their Island debut record they hit the scene with a boom. The first Single “Click Click
Boom” is a high energy explosion of sound and lyrics. They followed that effort up with next year with Back In You System that brought us that #1 single “Always.” In 2004 they started to speed the bus
up with Survival of the Sickest. With a line-up change in 2005 we reached the
current line-up. In early 2007 they released their forth album Blood Stained Love
Story. That album produced a huge hit with “Ladies and Gentleman.” In October of ’07 we here at Steal
the Spotlight did a concert review and interview, which can still be viewed on the site. Flash forward to now; Saliva released
their Cinco Diablo album just in time for the Holiday’s. The album begins
with a little “Family Reunion” which revisits a few lines from “Ladies and Gentleman” and some tunes
from the first few albums. Everything mixes very well and makes for a hell of an opener. They always seem to find a way to
pick out the very best lead single as they haven’t had a bad one. Next up is “My Own Worst Enemy” which
features on of my personal favorite artists, Brent Smith of Shinedown. It keeps with a hard bad ass feel, but with super smooth
vocals. spinning off third is “Best of Me.” it featured some sweet guitar play which we should have come accustom
to from Saliva, including an insane guitar solo, which I hope to get to see live. The multiple vocals on the song adds a pretty
cool touch that we don’t see from them very often as well as great drums. “How Could You” is a slower track
that doesn’t quite do it for me. it still has some great music and an okay lyrical set, but placed together it’s
not one of the better ones. “Hunt You Down” finishes up the first half of the album with a great hard rock tune
with loads of guitar work and drums that stream into you ears and makes your head bounce. To quote Mr. Scott, “Hell
Yeah, here we go again!” They start the second half of the album of with “Judgment Day.” It screams southern
rock from the very get go. For the most part it’s a pretty good track with its sly guitar sliding and mixed up drum
beat. The vocals are also pretty clear yet they are a little awkward in the transition from verse to chorus, but it has a
sick guitar solo. “Forever and a Day” is a very slow track although it is still harder than other bands “hard
stuff.” It is very different hearing Saliva produce something like this. It does take a good hand full of times listening
to it, but it finally does strike a nerve and you’ll start to like it. I think it could be a single down the road. “I’m
Coming Back” gets back to the harder stuff. With a cool beginning quickly getting into some rap type vocals then switching
gears yet again into some low key soft ones. The guitar solo in middle of the track is very nicely placed and with the background
drums it sets off the performance perfectly. “Southern Girls” displays their southern roots once again. Talking
about those beautiful southern guys from all over the south is a refreshing track that talks about woman in a different way
other than stripping and just fucking. It’s a very catchy track too that will get the attention of those girls. “So
Long” finishes up the album with another odd sounding track from Saliva. It just doesn’t fit with the rest of
the album or Saliva period. I know they are always trying new stuff to become multi-dimensional, but this track was way wrong
for them. Overall this album is pretty good. Every album to me have been pretty solid including this one. With many track
that could windup on the radio or even in their live set list they did a great job. They tried to change some stuff up a bit
and try new things and ideas and it turned out fairly well. Out of the 10 tracks 7 or 8 of them are tracks that I could listen
to for a while. They still offered up the great guitar solos they all of their fans have listened to the past 10+ years as
well as the southern feel that they often place in a few of the tracks in a given album. if I heard them for the first time
because of this album it would be enough for me to check out the rest of their releases and probably pick most of them up
as well
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
My favorite tracks:
Family
Reunion, My Own Worst Enemy, How Could You
Track List:
1.
Family Reunion
2.
My Own Worst Enemy
3.
Best of Me
4.
How Could You
5.
Hunt You Down
6.
Judgment Day
7.
Forever and a Day
8.
I'm Coming Back
9.
Southern Girls
10. So Long
Website (s): www.saliva.com, www.islandrecords.com
