Saliva – Cinco Diablo (Release Year – 2008)
Saliva is back with their first new album in almost two years, “Cinco Diablo”. I liked Saliva’s last album, “Blood Stained Love Story” even though it wasn’t well received by the masses. Their last album saw the band moving away from their nu-metal sound into a more mainstream approach. With Cinco Diablo, Saliva continues to spread their wings with an album that blends hard rock, metal and pop. At times some songs feel like like past Saliva tunes, and other songs show the band moving into a different direction once more.
“Family Reunion” is the first single released to radio. If you are familiar with Saliva’s past work, this song will feel somewhat familiar. If you have heard their songs “Click Click Boom” and “Ladies and Gentleman” you will probably like the familiar “BOOM” in the lyrics. It is a good opening song for this disc, even though the lyric is getting a little tired and over used in my opinion.
“My Own Worst Enemy” is a mid tempo hard rocking song that adds a layer of industrial sounding keyboard in the background of the tune. The more I listen to this song, the more I like it.
“Best of Me” keeps the heavy rock going. This is a pretty good rocker that ought to be Saliva’s next single. This is my favorite cut on “Cinco Diablo” so far.
With three hard tunes in a row, Saliva smartly breaks up the pace with “How Could You” . This is a tune that will likely have radio appeal for fans of bands like Nickelback and 3 Doors Down. It has a few hard guitar parts, but is light enough that is could find its way onto pop rock radio.
The hard rock continues with “Hunt You Down”. This tune has a beat that reminds me a little bit of older Nine Inch Nails material. I like the old NIN stuff, so I though that was kind of cool. This is a good song that Saliva needs to make one of their concert staples.
“Judgment Day” has grungy guitars and occasional harmonics that are reminiscent of the songs Alice in Chains was doing in the 90’s. I think there are some cool guitar parts in this song, but I don’t think there is enough to really set this tune apart from a lot of the other mainstream radio tunes. This song needs something to push it over the edge, but it never quite gets there.
‘Forever And A Day” is the closest thing to a power ballad that you will hear from Saliva. This is another really good song that has major hit potential.
“I’m Coming Back” feels like a filler tune to me. I am sure that isn’t what the band was trying to achieve, but this song does nothing for me.
The song “Southern Girls” took me by surprise. This is kind of a nu-metal meets southern rock song. I don’t remember Saliva doing anything like this before, but I like this song a lot. The chorus on this song kind of has a Motley Crue like feel to it. Cool stuff!
“So Long” closes out “Cinco Diablo” with a piano based number that sounds as if it should have been on a Coldplay CD. Yes, that is right, I said Coldplay. This is a really good song, but it seems out of place on this disc. I think Saliva fans are going to be shaking their heads when they hear this.
As a whole, I think “Cinco Diablo” is a better than Saliva’s last album, “Blood Stained Love Story” but I still don’t feel this is their best stuff. This album shows a little more growth and more experimentation with Saliva’s sound. It is definitely a strong album for the band, and this disc is a cool way to close out a killer year of hard rock music.
“Cinco Diablo” is in stores tomorrow, Tuesday December 15th. You can preview “Cinco Diablo” at the Saliva myspace page. You can purchase the album here.
Rating:
Out of 10
Track Listing:
1. Family Reunion
2. My Own Worst Enemy
3. Best Of Me
4. How Could You?
5. Hunt You Down
6. Judgment Day
7. Forever And A Day
8. I’m Coming Back
9. Southern Girls
10. So Long
Saliva is:
Josey Scott – Vocals
Wayne Swinny – Guitars
Jon Montoya – Guitars
Dave Novotny – Bass
Paul Crosby – Drums
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