Our Rating

User Rating

(No Ratings Yet)

Loading...

The spit men are back with their long awaited follow up to 2004’s critically acclaimed “Survival of the Sickest.” Now three years removed from the most successful record in over a decade of rockin’, Josey Scott and the rest of the Saliva boys are hitting the town again with their modern rock return, “Blood Stained Love Story.”Saliva, renowned for their incendiary blend of aggressive southern rock attitude behind a constant driving tempo (which commonly causes them to be categorized as rap/rock) that is certain to get your neck veins pulsating and testosterone whirling, have apparently turned over a new leaf with their latest endeavor. Maybe it’s just time or maturity catching up with the Memphis bad boys or maybe it’s just something else all together, but “Blood Stained Love Story” is a different breed of saliva, far removed from the tempestuous and sinister silhouette left ablaze after “Survival of the Sickest”. One thing is for sure however, they are definitely feeling the heat resulting from the extended absence between albums.

one more chance to write the book, and one more chance to take the stage, one more chance to set the hook, and one more chance to turn the pages, one more chance to get it right, and one more chance to right the wrongs, one more chance to make it tight, and one more chance to write the songs.

The heat they are trying to extinguish rises from several sources now a days, as questions are racing throughout Saliva’s dedicated fan base as loyal listeners look to this album to try and find some answers. With the debut of new guitarist Jon Montoya taking the spot of long time Saliva stringer, Chris Dabaldo, how will he fit in? Is it a noticeable difference? Then there are a whole different breed of questions all together, “BSLS” previously expected to be a thirty song effort as announced on the bands Myspace, has now been devolved down to a lowly ten track effort, which leaves many fans struggling to understand how in three years, the group comes back with a dismal Lp, which barely fulfils the constraints of a traditional “Lp”. There also remains the questions from the critics, are they going to attempt a new sound, or are they going to remain caught in the late 90’s? Can they fill the shadow they left behind, or are they destined to toil in rock purgatory for the rest of their existence?

Unfortunately for the listeners, Saliva seem like a band struggling to find their feet after living lavishly and losing their roots. Ultimately the album sounds utterly uninspired and lacking that element that made Saliva leaders of the rock/rap pack in the 90’s. Take for example the first single, Ladies and Gentlemen, which sounds more like an intro than the first public display off a highly anticipated comeback album. However uninspired it may sound, there are still some catchy tunes, though, replace the hard rock anthems with the basics elements of many rock stylings, take for example the warmer rock feel of, “Broken Sunday,” a melodic sound you would normally expect to hear on a record by a more romantic artists such as Ville Vallo’s, HIM. Another highpoint on the album includes the slightly more aggressive sound of, “King of the Radio,” which at the fourth track, almost offers a horizon of hope in an otherwise diminishingly drab panorama, but bear in mind…the album is only ten tracks. The post grunge sound of “Black Sheep” continues to build this sense of “hey, this album has some life in it after all!” Any hope that was building up was shot to shit with the next track, “One More Chance,” Scott’s (Semi)heartfelt hullabaloo of the future of Saliva, Scott does little vocally to make you believe his bleeding heart really is bleeding.

The album contains some great rock rudiments, however, it just feels a little bit dated. It has been suggested that groups such as Saliva and other rock/rap groups (Papa Roach) would have been better if instead of trying to make the changes to their music now that were recommended in the height of the rock/rap craze, they went out and tried to live in the present and get re-inspired. Though the album is bad, it is not a total failure, but it’s definitely not the Saliva we know. In the end, “Blood Stained Love Story” leaves the fans less salivating and more speculating about the bands survival.

The Bottom Line: The bottom line is this, Saliva are struggling to find their legs in an industry that passed them by 5 years ago. However they don’t give a fuck about that industry, and that is what makes Saliva, Saliva…the balls to say fuck the industry and their trends and hold on firm to their heart. However, the heart seems to have warmed to much (maybe foreshadowed by the cover art). Unfortunately for the dedicated fans that waited three years, lusting for a taste of new Saliva, and being told they’d get it in groves, they got ten mediocre tracks of outdated and uninspired dribble. When the average music listener thinks of the name Saliva they think, “Click, Click, Boom!” they think of that heavy metal with a hint of hip-hop, they can all say farewell for that Saliva is long gone, this is just the death rattle.

Tracklisting

1. Ladies And Gentlemen
2. Broken Sunday
3. Be With You
4. King Of The Stereo
5. One More Chance
6. Going Under
7. Twister
8. Black Sheep
9. Starting Over
10. Here With You

Websites

Saliva.com
MySpace.com/Saliva

Record Label:

• Island Records

Release Date:

• 01/23/2007

Reviewer:

• Kevin Dank