Home Reviews Album Reviews Album Review. CRASHDÏET “Automaton” (2022)

Album Review. CRASHDÏET “Automaton” (2022)

0
291
review crashdiet automation

CRASHDÏET has managed with “Automaton” to build a tremendous album demonstrating the band’s ability to carry on with pride

We all remember, like a phoenix, the resurgence of Crashdiet in 2019 with their fun and enjoyable album Rust (if you don’t remember it, no problem, we’ll refresh it for you by clicking here). Three years have passed, and a new work, Automaton, which we present in Rock And Blog with delay, a thousand pardons, has seen the light of day.

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when I get in front of the keyboard and the screen to write about the new album by the Swedes? Well, I’m going to say it, Automaton is the best they’ve ever done, it has everything a badass hard rock album can have, commercial melodies, or very commercial, heavy and soft guitars alike, a solid and powerful rhythmic base, and a voice with a hook, a lot of hooks. Sleaze Rock!

And the second thing? Well, nobody can get me off the idea that the incorporation of Gabriel Keyes to the band has been more than right, because, as I said in the Rush review, his style is very similar to the late Dave Lepard, and has made the band, with Gabriel in its ranks, focus on continuing the legacy of Lepard, who was the creator of the band, is always present and continues to be the true leader.

Yes, yes, Lepard is there, and not only in terms of musical legacy, Automaton reminds me a lot of his first, and great album, Rest In Sleaze, but Dave himself warns you in the song that introduces the album, with a “hey, motherfuckers” (watch out for what’s coming, many curves, and all of them very intense).

“Together Whatever” already has that pounding rhythm, a trademark of the style, and the band, which you won’t get rid of for the entire duration of the album. This song, and the rest, you’ll see, bring everything, the drums, by Eric Young, in rhythm, like clockwork, the bass, also very “heavy” and distorted (you can appreciate it very well in a passage of the song in which Gabriel and Peter are left alone), Martin Sweet’s heavy guitars, with which I’m starting to twist my nose as they start to seem much more elaborate and with more quality than in previous works, the simple and catchy choruses, the melodies more than catchy, and Gabriel’s voice, the icing on the cake.

“Shine On” reminds me a lot of Rest In Sleaze, it’s another great song! and I love the guitars in the song, a lot of air guitars, which always look great, some very ratty in the verses, and others in the chorus, very striking. I love the end, screams and fat guitars, are magnificent!

In “No Man’s Land” you scream, the chorus is for that, and you shake your head, once again with that heavy rhythm. Here those sneaky guitars reappear in the verses and choruses, which together with the jazzy riff that they like so much, make a perfect mix, and don’t miss the ones at the end, in which Sweet embroiders the chorus for you!

“Darker Minds” would be the mid-tempo, powerful rhythmic base with a more than worthy place for the quasi-pop melody they play in the song. It’s a song that wiggles asses, no doubt about it.
And after the soft moment, the band decides to make your ears explode with “Dead Crusade”, guitars worthy of any good metal band, and hard verses that contrast with a totally catchy and even danceable chorus.

“Powerline” features the great Michael Starr, the singer of Steel Panther. It is, without a doubt, the most commercial song, the most suitable for all tastes, of the album. It’s a powerful Hard Rock, very The Poodles-like but with Sweet’s heavy guitars, in which the Keyes-Starr duet puts the song, which is already good in itself, on another level. It would be great to see the two singers doing it live.

In “Resurrection of the Damned” I think they pay homage to Guns And Roses, the bridge to the chorus is very American band, and Gabriel’s work is literally out of this world, putting on the Axl Rose costume and bringing out his wildest side, that “devil on my shoulder” in the middle of the song is 100% Axl.

“We Die Hard” besides bringing us a message of theirs as they have already done more than once, “we are losers”, brings us some fantastic guitars, I think that Martin Sweet has worked hard on this album, and I think it’s the best thing he has ever done.

“Shell Shock” is, like No Man’s Land, a head-shaking, screaming, hard-hitting track.

“Unbroken” is my favorite song, it was hard for me to choose, to be honest. And I’ll take it because, having the Crashdiet spirit, they step on the accelerator a little more, and the song gains speed.

And after the storm, when we are all exhausted and disheveled, the calm arrives. To finish, they present us with “I Can’t Move On (Without You)”, a ballad, ballad, and acoustic song that they decide to end up including in electric, and that makes the song more powerful, of course. I’m not a balladeer at all, and even less so to end an album, but if the song and the ending are like this one, you just have to take your hat off to them.

If you’re a fan of all that American stuff led by Mötley Crüe, Skid Row, or Guns And Roses (by the way, the name of the band, Crashdiet, comes from an unreleased song by Rose and Slash’s band), don’t hesitate, give these Swedes a listen, they won’t let you down.

Tracklist:

Automaton
Together Whatever
Shine On
No Man’s Land
Darker Minds
Dead Crusade
Powerline.
Resurrection of the Damned
We Die Hard
Shell Shock
Unbroken
I Can’t Move On (Without You)

Line-up

  • Martin Sweet. Guitars
  • Peter London. Bass
  • Eric Young. Drums
  • Gabriel Keyes. Vocals

Review by The Planet of The Ape

NO COMMENTS

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here