| Relapsed Into A Former State | MTM Music 0681-163 |
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Caught In The Act got two cool albums under their belt before ditching the name and going with Guild Of Ages. They got even cooler then, with 3 more albums – 2 of which are near classics. All 5 albums were produced by Axe's Bobby Barth and all sounded sonically impressive. Then they disappeared….Five years later they are back under moniker number 3. Relapsed close in on the sound of their first two albums – those released under the Caught In The Act name. The guys still have attitude, and they still have style. And they still know how to write some great rock songs. They always had this unique vibe and I'm pleased to say that style is retained here. What is missing is that knockout production. Without Bobby Barth for the first time, the band clearly drops a few notches as far as sound quality. The vocals of frontman Danny Martinez sounds quite raw and the backing vocals aren't nearly as big as the Barth produced albums. I'm also not sure about the guitar sound – perhaps a little hollow. This is a solid album, but would have been even better with a production job to rival those given to Guild Of Ages. Ok, that aside, some fine songs here and as stated – plenty of American rock n roll attitude. I think Barth also brought out the best of these guys with their writing, but on their own there are still some new highlights. While Welcome To My Life is a pretty safe opening mid-tempo rocker, things get interesting with the feistier End Of The Line and the angry Undone. The commercial rocker The Other Half has a good hook, but could have used some bigger backing vocals. Mercy Pays The Dept is another great track and typical of the attitude this band has. The band takes on the Queen classic I Want It All and despite good intentions fall short due to the lack of impact. The fine ballad Everyday and the commercial Somewhere We Belong close the album on the same good note as it started.
Now, if only they could hook up with Bobby Barth again and get that production quality of the GOA material back.
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