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Mar 28, 20234 min read

Skid Row - sUBHUMAN rACE (1995)

𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐏𝐓𝐒 - 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐔𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐟  𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 & 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋…


Skid Row - sUBHUMAN rACE (1995)



Tracklist:

𝟶𝟷. 𝙼𝚢 𝙴𝚗𝚎𝚖𝚢 (𝟹:𝟹𝟾)

𝟶𝟸. 𝙵𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚒𝚐𝚗 (𝟺:𝟻𝟺)

𝟶𝟹. 𝙱𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍 (𝟸:𝟷𝟼)

𝟶𝟺. 𝙱𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚈𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏 𝙱𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚍 (𝟻:𝟶𝟸)

𝟶𝟻. 𝙴𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚎𝚗 (𝟻:𝟹𝟼)

𝟶𝟼. 𝚁𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚂𝚎𝚎𝚗 (𝟹:𝟹𝟺)

𝟶𝟽. 𝚂𝚞𝚋𝚑𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝚁𝚊𝚌𝚎 (𝟸:𝟺𝟶)

𝟶𝟾. 𝙵𝚛𝚘𝚣𝚎𝚗 (𝟺:𝟺𝟹)

𝟶𝟿. 𝙸𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝙰𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 (𝟺:𝟶𝟸)

𝟷𝟶. 𝙵𝚊𝚌𝚎 𝙰𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝 𝙼𝚢 𝚂𝚘𝚞𝚕 (𝟺:𝟸𝟶)

𝟷𝟷. 𝙼𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝙹𝚊𝚛 (𝟹:𝟹𝟼)

𝟷𝟸. 𝙱𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗‘ 𝙳𝚘𝚠𝚗 (𝟺:𝟹𝟶)

𝟷𝟹. 𝙸𝚛𝚘𝚗 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚕 (𝟽:𝟺𝟹)


The song Iron Will ends at 4:45 followed by 2:15 of silence before a hidden track plays.



Skid Row:

• Sebastian Bach – 𝙻𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚅𝚘𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚜

• Scotti Hill – 𝙶𝚞𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚛, 𝙱𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚅𝚘𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚜

• Dave Sabo – 𝙶𝚞𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚛, 𝙱𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚅𝚘𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚜

• Rachel Bolan – 𝙱𝚊𝚜𝚜, 𝙱𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚅𝚘𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚜

• Rob Affuso – 𝙳𝚛𝚞𝚖𝚜, 𝙿𝚎𝚛𝚌𝚞𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗



Production:

• Bob Rock – 𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚍𝚞𝚌𝚎𝚛

• Randy Staub – 𝙴𝚗𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚛, 𝙼𝚒𝚡𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚝 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚆𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚂𝚝𝚞𝚍𝚒𝚘, 𝚅𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚟𝚎𝚛, 𝙲𝚊𝚗𝚊𝚍𝚊

• Brian Dobbs, Darrin Grahn – 𝙰𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝙴𝚗𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚛𝚜

• George Marino – 𝙼𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚝 𝚂𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚂𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍, 𝙽𝚎𝚠 𝚈𝚘𝚛𝚔 𝙲𝚒𝚝𝚢



Overview:

Skid Row released their third full-length studio album, Subhuman Race (sUBHUMAN rACE) on March 28, 1995, via Atlantic Records.


This is the last Skid Row album with singer Sebastian Bach and drummer Rob Affuso, and the last one to be released on Atlantic. Despite receiving positive reviews, Subhuman Race was not as successful as the band's first two albums. Certain tracks from the album were remixed for the band's compilation 40 Seasons: The Best of Skid Row, given more tender, slightly cleaner mixes to fit better with the other tracks.



Background:

Released during the decline of hard rock and heavy metal, Subhuman Race marked a significant change in the band's sound, with Bob Rock replacing Michael Wagener as its producer, and resembling a mixture of heavy metal with grunge, alternative, punk rock, thrash metal and groove metal influences. It has also been noted as more of a dark album than previous works.


(𝙼𝚢 𝙴𝚗𝚎𝚖𝚢 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚕𝚎)


To promote Subhuman Race, Skid Row supported Van Halen in North America on their Balance tour. Following the album and tour, they released a live EP titled Subhuman Beings on Tour, featuring live performances from the Subhuman Race tour.


(𝚂𝚞𝚋𝚑𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝙱𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙾𝚗 𝚃𝚘𝚞𝚛!! 𝙴𝙿)


The band has not played any songs from Subhuman Race since the album's tour in 1995–1996, though Bach has occasionally played them on his solo tours, including Beat Yourself Blind, Frozen, and the singles My Enemy, Into Another and Breakin' Down. Beat Yourself Blind was the only song from this album to be performed live since Bach's departure, until ZP Theart performed Medicine Jar in 2018, while Remains to Be Seen has never been played live once.


(𝙸𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝙰𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚕𝚎)


The album debuted at No. 35 on the Billboard 200, staying for nine weeks, being a significant drop off from Slave to the Grind's No. 1 debut. By July 1999, Subhuman Race has sold 165,424 copies, falling significantly behind their previous records.


(𝙱𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗‘ 𝙳𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚕𝚎)


Critical Reception:

Subhuman Race received mixed to mostly positive reviews from music critics.


AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that it saw the band "strip back their music to the basics" and was their "strongest and most vicious record to date."


Rolling Stone reviewer called it "the freshest riffage since last year's Soundgarden record" and also noted the "tight, hot guitar lines and radio hooks that burn themselves into your brain".


Q praised both the guitars that "grumble and mutter more menacingly than ever" and Bach's "awesome vocal pyrotechnics", summarizing that "Skid Row has come up with an outright winner."



Canadian journalist Martin Popoff found the album quite complex, with Skid Row "absorbing the best elements of grunge into their over-the-top love of all things metal." He praised Bach's performance and the band's "street-savvy" attitude and "prog ethic" shown in the record.


Conversely, Jim Farber of Entertainment Weekly considered Subhuman Race made of "the same squealing, yowling, third-rate metal that made Skid Row pariahs in the first place", calling them an "unrepentant hair band of the '80s" which had mangled their melodies "to get over their old 'power ballad' stigma."



Dean Golemis of the Chicago Tribune criticised Skid Row's "campy, formulaic arrangements that still cater to commercial appeal and offer nothing new to a genre plagued by cliches and copycats", but remarked as "Bach's vocal bravura stands as the album's saving grace."


Thomas Kupfer in his review for the German Rock Hard magazine wrote that "Skid Row will offend a lot of old fans with this disc", where "mediocrity dominates, the songs seem uninspired, and only the compact sound and the solid craftsmanship of the band members" save the album.


The band members also do not reflect positively on their work on Subhuman Race. In an interview in November 2006, bassist Rachel Bolan expressed his negative feelings about the album:

"That record was a nightmare. Internally the band had fallen apart but we were forced to go in and do another record and it was a nightmare with the recording, writing and producing. We worked with someone we had not worked with before after being so successful with Michael and we were used to the way he did things. I am not slighting Bob at all, he is a genius producer but it was bad timing. I did not have the greatest time, it was nobody's fault, it was just the way things were. Also the record absolutely sucks."

(𝚁𝚊𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚕 𝙱𝚘𝚕𝚊𝚗)


In a June 2018 interview on the "Rock Talk with Mitch Lafon" podcast, vocalist Sebastian Bach indicated that, despite featuring "some good tunes", the "very dated production sound" of Subhuman Race has made it an unlistenable album:

"In the same way, probably, Lars Ulrich might think St. Anger is dated to that time, I think Subhuman Race might be our St. Anger."

(𝚂𝚎𝚋𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙱𝚊𝚌𝚑, 𝚌𝚒𝚛𝚌𝚊 𝟷𝟿𝟿𝟻)


Note: Any reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells



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