{"id":38556,"date":"2014-03-23T08:10:19","date_gmt":"2014-03-23T13:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=38556"},"modified":"2014-03-23T08:10:19","modified_gmt":"2014-03-23T13:10:19","slug":"saliva-rise-up-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/saliva-rise-up-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Saliva | Rise Up<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Mark Allen<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"SalivaFans of radio-friendly modern hard rock should be\u2014wait for it\u2014salivating to get their ears on this album. The addition of new vocalist Bobby Amaru (replacing original singer Josey Scott) seems to have injected new energy into the band after their last few albums sputtered along on vapors.<\/p>\n

While Saliva began as a rap\/nu-metal act, over the years they evolved in the direction of a modern hard rock sound, not dissimilar to the approach adopted by their contemporaries Papa Roach. While latter-day albums always featured at least a couple commercial rock anthems designed to snag the ears and ascend the charts, Rise Up<\/em> is the first Saliva album on which every song is radio-ready. No filler, all killer, as the cool kids say. <\/p>\n

Modern hard rock connoisseurs who relish big choruses and a plethora of hooks will have a new favorite album. Granted, originality is about as scarce as a virgin in Playboy, but that\u2019s not the point. The band expertly nails the commercial rock format and that is the point. In other words, this may be the rock \u2018n\u2019 roll equivalent of fast food, but it\u2019s high end fast food, where the burger is juicily grilled, the bun perfectly toasted, the condiments spiked with hot sauce to give them some bite, and the toppings cool and crisp. If that doesn\u2019t make you hungry to hear this album, it should at least make you \u2026 hungry.<\/p>\n

Most fans predicted the dissolution of Saliva when Scott departed and there will still be some loyalists who refuse to accept Amaru despite the fact that he is arguably the superior singer. While he lacks Scott\u2019s distinctively rough rasp, he is a better fit for this melodic, radio-targeted direction the band has taken.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t let overuse of the term \u201cradio-friendly\u201d trick you into believing this album is barren of balls. Sure, it\u2019s chock full of catchy hooks and arena-size choruses, but the guitars have plenty of face-smacking crunch, the drums pack a punch, the production emphasizes the beefy brawn, and the whole affair sports a heavy edge. No, you won\u2019t mistake this for the latest Slayer album \u2026 but nor will you mistake it for Blink 182. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s plenty of the now-standard Saliva attitude in the lyrics as well, nicely exemplified on \u201cArmy,\u201d with tough-guy prose like, \u201cPut your money where your mouth is \/ \u2018Cause there ain\u2019t no way around this \/ I\u2019ll knock you down from the top \/ You think you can stop me \/ You and what army.\u201d Expect some NFL team to license this track and make it their theme song next season.<\/p>\n

\u201cRise Up\u201d is the lead single and it\u2019s the track that most strongly hearkens back to oldschool Saliva, with a verse that borders on nu-metal but explodes into an anthemic, fist-pumping chorus with slamming guitars and gang vocals galore. \u201cRedneck Freakshow\u201d is pure hard rock swagger with bone-rattling rhythms and infectious energy, not unlike what you might hear on a Blackstone Cherry album. And if it\u2019s a big ballad you crave, then that\u2019s what you get with \u201cCloser,\u201d which comes with an extra dose of melodic melancholy to accompany the powerful chorus.<\/p>\n

With all due respect to Josey Scott, this new album with a new singer is the best of the group\u2019s career and could give them a new start. If you get turned on by kickass modern hard rock, then prepare to feel a tickle in your ear and a twitch in your pants, because Rise Up will make you do just that.<\/p>\n

Genre: Modern Hard Rock<\/p>\n

Band:
\nBobby Amaru (vocals)
\nWayne Swinny (lead guitar)
\nDave Novotny (bass)
\nPaul Crosby (drums)<\/p>\n

Track Listing
\n1. Rise Up
\n2. She Can Sure Hide Crazy
\n3. No One But Me
\n4. Lost
\n5. 1000 Eyes
\n6. Redneck Freakshow
\n7. Choke
\n8. Army
\n9. Closer
\n10. In It To Win It
\n11. The Enemy
\n12. I Don\u2019t Want It<\/p>\n

Label: Rum Bum Records<\/p>\n

Webpage: www.facebook.com\/Saliva<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 9\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Mark Allen – Senior Columnist — Fans of radio-friendly modern hard rock should be\u2014wait for it\u2014salivating to get their ears on this album. The addition of new vocalist Bobby Amaru (replacing original singer Josey […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":38557,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[8855,2317,2939,8857,8985],"class_list":{"0":"post-38556","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-bobby-amaru","9":"tag-cd-review","10":"tag-modern-hard-rock","11":"tag-rum-bum-records","12":"tag-saliva-rise-up"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}