Kicking & Screaming

Lacking the slippery gloss and superstar cameos of his last record, 2007’s Angel Down, Sebastian Bach’s fourth solo album, Kicking & Screaming, is stripped to its basics, bearing all the hallmarks of a lower budget. Survivor that he is, Bach adapts to his new surroundings, hiring hungry younger players, then pouring it all out in a record that’s leaner and hits harder than most of his other records. Material-wise, this may not always gel -- particularly on the ballads, which tend to meander -- but what surprises about Kicking & Screaming is how hard and strong Bach sounds; he may no longer be a star but he’s not stopping from performing with abandon, and he’s pretty much the only one of his peers to still sound so vigorous.