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SLAVE TO THE SYSTEM / Slave To The System Spitfire Records 2006 by The Atomic Chaser/All Access Magazine Slave To The System is made up of, some of rock musics elite players, Damon Johnson (Brother Cane) on vocals and guitar, Scott Rockenfield (Queensryche) on drums, Kelly Gray (ex-Queensryche) on guitar, and Roman Glick (Brother Cane) on bass. The monster debut from Slave To The System kicks off in rocking bravado with "Stigmata", a great opener which is a full throttled rocker, fueled by powerful bass-lines and furious riffing. There is not a spot of filler anywhere on the album, at least not to my ear. This is a very impressive debut from a clearly musically talented band. Slave To The System in my opinion, is a rock band with superpowers and yet they do have a slightly different twist to their sound. Enough to make them sound uniquely themselves. "Abyss" is one example of this, as it shows they can be very hard and yet have a melodious side as well. The guitar work is really atmospheric and chilling, coupled with killer choruses. Slaves To The System will appeal to alternative and metal fans, especially since this is a guitar heavy and heart pounding, drumming album. The title track is a song so powerful and addicting that it is hard to want to listen to another song. With the pulsating drumbeats and the driving bass lines, combined with the powerful guitar riffs that will send chills up your spine. Roman Glick and Scott Rockenfield lay down some clever rhythms to lend the songs one hell of a left hook, that Roy Jones Jr. would be envious of. SLAVE TO THE SYSTEM is blistering, smouldering, Grade A Rock. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED |
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CD Review: Slave to the System - Slave to the System February 22, 2006 Chris Beaumont BlogCritics.org When I first heard of Slave to the System, my mind jumped to the conclusion that they would sound similar to acts like System of a Down. I guess the presence of the words "slave" and "system" set off a series of firing synapses leading down the wrong path. Needless to say, this album sounds nothing like that. Slave to the System is a collaboration between current and former members of Queensryche in drummer Scott Rockenfeld and guitarist Kelly Gray, and members of Brother Cane in bassist Roman Glick and vocalist/guitarist Damon Johnson. They have come together and crafted a mature rock album that isn't just a rehash of their other work and evokes comparisons to Soundgarden. What you don't hear is Queensryche, and that is a good thing. I am a fan of Queensryche, but don't want to hear them trying to capture that sound in another project. I claim ignorance of Brother Cane's music, I have heard of the band, but have never really listened to them, so how much of their sound is here, I could not say. This is a finely crafted album that focuses on the song, rather than the parts of the song. While all of those involved stand out as wonderful musicians, they have banded together and brought us a side project that feels more like a full time band than as a vanity project as some of these side bands tend to be. It is refreshing to come across a collection of songs that feel like songs. The album keeps a steady stream of songs where writing is king. The self-titled album gets off to a strong start with the mature grunge rock "Stigmata." It is a high energy rocker that has incredible forward motion with strong rhythms and vocals. The flow continues on the next two tracks, "Ruby Wednesday" and the title track. Each featuring a distinct sound, in other words, the songs don't all sound the same. But they do have something key running through all of them, groove. These songs get caught in the grey matter and rattle around. You cannot help but groove along to the rock. We slow down for a bit with "Live This Life," a mellowed out contemplation of life, a morose tone, but hopeful outcome. The mellow mood does not last long as the rock amps up for "Cruze Out of Control" which reminds me of Batmotorfinger era Soundgarden. Continuing the ebb and flow is the give and take between the two sides of the band, the higher energy post-grunge and the slower Staid style angst. "Abyss" is one of my favorite tracks, a slow sad tale in the twilight of a relationship. That is only the first half, there are still 6 more songs on this disk. Slave to the System is a group of accomplished musicians and talented songwriters who have stepped outside the system to write a focused album, honing their skills in an organic environment where the music has a flow to it that may not be possible in a studio/label atmosphere. As mature as the music sounds, there is an easy flowing nature to it, nothing is forced, it is just great rock music. It is also an album that grows on you, the more you listen, the more you hear, and the more you will want to listen to it. If at first you are not sucked in, listen to it again, I guarantee that you will start to like it, if not love it. Recommended. 3.5/5 |
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Slave to the System - The Gauntlet Band Name: Slave To The System Album Name: Slave To The System Genre: progressive Rating: 4/5 User Rating: 4.3/5 Label: Spitfire Records Buy Album: Amazon.com A rock supergroup of sorts, the members of Slave to the System have spent time in Queensryche and Brother Cane respectively, as Scott Rockenfield, Kelly Gray, Damon Johnson, and Roman Glick comprise this project. On the outfit's 12-track debut, a teeth-gnashing display of hook-laden hard rock hysteria collides with traces of the band's day gigs, whipping up some of the most organic hard rock heard since Velvet Revolver and Audioslave burst on the scene from the ashes of celebrity excess. When cagey veterans join forces, hopefully songs like the Southern rock twang of "Gone Today" or the unabashed stompbox special that is "Disinfected" blast through the speakers, and thankfully, there is no shortage of intriguing instrumentation, fervent performance, and a sense that these guys are finally able to work outside of the box and let loose, both in mind and in practice here. In fact, Slave to the System explores arenas each member's main band touched upon in much greater depth and breadth (especially the '90s-era Queensryche material), yielding compelling compositions like "Walk the Line", ready for the radio tracks like "Abyss" and driving grooves like "Cruze Out of Control" without reprise and sans sounding forced or contrived. Feeling and sounding comfortable in their new skin, this self-titled debut merges darker edged progressive and Dixieland hard rock with a substantial sum of soul and is worth a spin for those craving a powerful hard rock release. Review by: Mike SOS |
"Love the music!!! I can't wait for the new disc!"