### Crashdiet: The savage playground

#### 07/03/13 || jaimeviejo

I never understood the aversion towards 80’s hard rock. It is true that some bands were beyond cheesy and that there were a lot of copycats, but the genre itself was great. Stupid costumes, make-up (now tell me that you never put your mom’s make up on, liar), anthems instead of songs, guitar solos (anybody remember those?), amazing live shows, bigger than life ballads . . . not bad uh?

If I have to listen to a vulgaris hard rock band in 2013, the first thing that I do is to check out where they are from. The fact that Crashdiet comes from Stockholm gives me at least the guarantee that even if this was a generic blast of 80’s hard rock cockiness, it was going to be absolutely spotless, which was the case.

Crashdiet is another product made in Sweden that follows the guidelines of how hard rock should be made. First of all, great songs, generic yes, but well written, energetic and powerful without being a complete rip off. And second, it has a good singer and a solid band that knows how to make a more than decent rock album.

My only problem with the band is that I’m not sure if I could tell who they were if I heard one of their songs in the background of a bar while drunk. I can’t tell many reasons why you should listen to them instead of the million other ones around, but I feel like the songwriting is a step up from the masses without being at all innovative. The duration of the album is really excessive; an hour long of hard/rock it is honestly too much to bear, especially when towards the middle of the album the songs become a little bit boring and repetitive.

The production is 100% hard rock, and there is not an ounce of Metal here like other bands like Sister, Hell ‘N’ Diesel, or Lipstixx ‘N’ Bulletz. As a consequence the sound is not as clean but it has a cool vintage flavor.

There are really fun and rockin’ songs in “The Savage Playground”: Album opener “Change the World” has a great catchy verse and an over-the-top chorus, “Cocaine Cowboys” is a more traditional sleazy and bluesy song with cliché lyrics, “California” is a 2013 AOR song and “Snakes in Paradise” was taken from the Guns ‘n’ Roses Apetite-era cook book. There is a little bit of experimentation towards the end of “Gardens of Babylon” with a spoken word and some fading guitars, and in the last track “Liquid Jesus” introduces a harmonica, a Hammond organ, and a gospel choir. Besides this there is nothing to report.

To be honest I’d rather listen to Steel Panther than these guys, but I have to say that if you like good hard-cock-rock bands, Crashdiet is one of them.

- Information
- Released: 2013
- Label: Frontiers Records
- Website: www.crashdiet.org
- Band
- Simon Cruz: vocals, guitars
- Martin Sweet: guitars
- Peter London: bass
- Eric Young: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Change the World
- 02. Cocaine Cowboys
- 03. Anarchy
- 04. California
- 05. Lickin’ Dog
- 06. Circus
- 07. Sin City
- 08. Got a Reason
- 09. Drinkin Without You
- 10. Snakes in Paradise
- 11. Damaged Kid
- 12. Excited
- 13. Garden Of Babylon
- 14. Liquid Jesus