Slave To The System

(Spitfire)
by Martin Popoff

Excepting that faceless, forgettable, confusing name, Slave To The System turns out to be a pretty cool bit of rock star marriaging in the Audioslave, Velvet Revolver, Soul Sirkus, Brides of Destruction oeuvre. Deal, pick up your cards, and what you see is a couple pair of Queensrÿche and Brother Cane dudes, and some guy named Scott. The result is better than VR and not as good as Soul Sirkus, Damon Johnson’s twangy Cornell croon taking it into quite rocking, groovy Audioslave terrain, but with more combative songs at the heavy end. Check out “Disinfected” for a neck-snap. Still, there’s a bunch of mellow material, but it’s soulful and Southerny, just like Damon, and to confuse matters, Pearl Jam, and maybe even Robert Plant solo, especially for neo-psych closing pair “Rag Doll” and “Walk the Line,” the latter giving the album a Dokken twist circa Shadowlife.
(www.spitfirerecords.com)