 
Back in 2013 Skid Row released a brand new EP
titled ‘United World Rebellion: Chapter
One’ it was 7 track offering which ran for
just under 20minutes and featured 5 brand new
Skid Row songs as well as a couple of cover songs
it also happened to be the bands first EP release
since 1995 and also happens to be the bands first
set of new music since 2006 and now the band have
just followed that up with ‘United World
Rebellion: Chapter Two – Rise Of The Damnation
Army’.
‘Chapter Two – Rise Of The Damnation
Army’ is set out very similar to part one
in the way that it features 5 brand new Skid Row
songs and 2 cover songs from classic bands such
as Queen and Aerosmith. The EP opens up with ‘We
Are The Damned’ a song which happens to
be quite an anthem as Dave Sabo and Scotti Hill
go full throttle with their guitar riffs and vocally
Johnny Solinger sounds stronger than ever here
which can only be a positive thing considering
how much stick he has received since taking on
the rough job of replacing Sebastian Bach.
‘Give It The Gun’ opens with some
great basslines from Rachel Bolan and when the
song fully gets going it becomes quite an exciting
number which is full of energy and oozes in style,
when the chorus kicks in you sure know about it
as the band chant out “Give it the gun”
time and time again whilst playing their instruments
like their lives depend on it.
‘Catch Your Fall’ see’s Skid
Row go down the slow paced ballad route and don’t
get me wrong the song is good and has potential
but it is moments like this when you can’t
help compare the vocal range of Sebastian Bach
to Johnny Solinger and that is when you start
to realise just how much better Skid Row could
be if Sebastian Bach was still in the band.
‘Damination Army’ sees things pick
up again and the opening instrumental work is
just fantastic as Rob Hammersmith smashes his
drums about like he means business whilst Dave
Sabo and Scotti Hill lay down some outstanding
guitar riffs and as the song progresses it shows
off elements of classic Skid Row as the band add
yet another explosive yet catchy song to their
back catalogue where Johnny Solinger shines once
again with his diverse sounding lead vocals.
‘Zero Day’ is quite a technical song
for Skid Row and it takes a lot of time to get
going as the band go all out down the experimental
work but as soon as things kick in the song becomes
huge and you will find yourself singing “Take
the power back, fight with all you will, bleed
for the cause, eat what you kill” when the
chorus kicks in.
The EP comes to a close with a cover of Queens
‘Sheer Heart Attack’ which is played
in a nice and fast way and also a cover of Aerosmith’s
‘Rats in the Cellar’ which is also
played nice and fast with a slight punk edge and
that’s what makes these covers stand out
the fact that Skid Row have done everything in
their power to stay true to the originals but
make them their own at the same time.
I actually happened to catch Skid Row at Download
festival over the summer and was impressed that
they still have it when it comes to playing live
and the classics sounding as good as ever and
the new songs showed potential and that’s
why I find it exciting that Skid Row are still
making music and I think the fact that they are
going down the EP’s route rather than the
album route makes things that little bit more
special as it’s easier to put the effort
in to listen to the EP over a few times and see
it for what it is.
4/5
Review by Trigger
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