BravePicks 2024 - SEBASTIAN BACH's Child Within The Man #7
December 24, 2024, 13 hours ago
In 1994, BraveWords & Bloody Knuckles magazine was born and here we stand 30 years later celebrating the past 12 months of music on our anniversary! What an incredible ride it has been and it's far from over! And during the past three decades, we've literally seen/heard thousands of releases and this is the time of the season when we crown the finest! The BraveWords scribes have spoken, so join us each day this month as we count down to the BravePick of 2024!
Remember, everybody has an opinion and it’s time for ours! Stay tuned at the end of December for BraveWords' writers’ individual Top 20s (new studio albums ONLY), Top 5 Brave Embarrassments (a fan favorite!), What/Who Needs To Stop In 2024? and Metal Predictions For 2025.
BravePicks 2024
7) SEBASTIAN BACH - Child Within The Man (Reigning Phoenix)
With seemingly never-ending questions of a reunion with Skid Row, frontman Sebastian Bach has soldiered on with a solo career worth exploration. Bach is a kid at heart who loves music and loves being a singer and living that rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. Child Within The Man is a celebration of his influences, creating a modern album that feels like the ‘80s. Bach certainly succeeded in his mission, recording a startling exceptional record.
For an aging rockstar, the energy and youthful spirit comes out with material that rivals the glory days of his former band. Bach screams to #7 with Child Within The Man.
Scribe Aaron Small caught up with Bach to speak about the album in an exclusive interview; an excerpt below:
The album title, Child Within The Man, actually comes from a lyric in “Everybody Bleeds”. It’s one of several easter eggs contained within Sebastian’s new album. There’s a lot of hidden meaning waiting to be discovered. “It’s totally, exactly what you just said. You’re not going to even fathom the vinyl packaging, and the CD packaging, and the cassette packaging; they’re all different. For the collectors, there’s seven different vinyl variations. Three bio-formats that are the highest level of vinyl quality and sound. And then four colored versions. The vinyl packaging is f*ckin’ spectacular! I can’t tell you what it is, cause then it’s not an easter egg. All I can tell you is that since the vinyl format is so much larger, I picked different images and art in the vinyl than I did in the CD. The CD comes with a 29-page booklet! And it’s totally different packaging than the vinyl. Different pictures, it’s totally different. I’ve never seen that really. But I got to design all this, and I just used different imagery for the vinyl than the CD, cause of the size of it. Also, horizontal versus vertical, all that kind of thing.”
Sebastian surrounded himself with an A-list group of musicians for Child Within The Man. Devin Bronson (Treble Charger, Avril Lavigne) on guitars, Todd Kerns (Slash, Toque, The Age Of Electric) on bass, and Jeremy Colson (Steve Vai) on drums. But when it’s time to hit the road, it will be a completely different lineup on stage. “I don’t look at making records at all like touring; to me, that’s two different jobs, like completely. You can look at who lasts, and who falls by the wayside… it takes a certain kind of real, true rocker to be a lifelong touring musician. Going on tour and playing every night is not like doing a show a month, or a couple shows during the summertime,” chuckles Baz. “It’s not the same thing. I think by now, I hope by now, everybody realizes that I’m actually doing this for a living. I’m not like somebody you just heard of six months ago, and now I’m out. That’s not me dude. That’s not me. You can f*cking depend on me!”
BravePicks 2024 Top 30
8) GRAND MAGUS - Sunraven (Nuclear Blast)
9) IOTUNN - Kinship (Metal Blade)
10) NILE - The Underworld Awaits Us All
11) EVERGREY - Theories Of Emptiness (Napalm)
12) THE CROWN - Crown Of Thorns (Metal Blade)
13) NECROPHOBIC - In The Twilight Grey (Century Media)
14) DJEVEL - Natt Til Ende (Aftermath)
15) INTRANCED - Muerte y Metal (High Roller)
16) KITTIE - Fire (Sumerian)
17) BLACKTOP MOJO - Pollen (Cuhmon Music Group)
19) RIOT V - Mean Streets
20) PORTRAIT - The Host
21) ROTTING CHRIST - Pro Xristou (Season Of Mist)
22)SAXON - Hell, Fire And Damnation (Silver Lining)
23) ULCERATE - Cutting The Throat Of God (Debemur Morti Productions)
24) POWERWOLF - Wake Up The Wicked (Napalm)
25) ENSIFERUM - Winter Storm (Metal Blade)
26) OPETH - The Last Will And Testament (Reigning Phoenix Music)
27) DARK TRANQUILLITY - Endtime Signals (Century Media)
28) MORGUL BLADE - Heavy Metal Wraiths (No Remorse)
29) THE DEAD DAISIES - Light 'Em Up (Independent)
30) MÖRK GRYNING - Fasornas Tid (Season Of Mist)
