CRUCIFIED BARBARA – In The Red

Swedish hard rockers Crucified Barbara will release their fourth album In the Red on September 10th. Crucified Barbara have always exuded an 80’s metal quality and they continue to do so on the current album. The formula of distorted guitars, heavy bass, gravelly lead vocals and catchy riffs works for them and they’ve stuck with it, although they sound a little more down tuned and heavy on this one. It could be described as Motorhead meets Metallica. The album opens with the hard hitting party anthem I sell my Kids for Rock n’ Roll. The lyrics of the chorus are: “I sell my kids for rock n’ roll. Sex, late nights, and alcohol.” Definitely the kind of refrain you’d expect from an 80’s party band. However,  they also tackle more serious topics on this album. Their first single To Kill a Man discusses sexual assault of women. The music video shows the band playing with words scrolling across the bottom of the screen the entire time. The words seem to be describing personal stories of sexual harassment. The band was quoted as saying this in regards to the new album and its content: “This album is the best thing we’ve ever done musically and it feels damn good to take a clear stand against subjects like misogyny and animal rights, topics we are passionate about, through our music.” As far as the sound of To Kill a Man, the song opens with a slow, churning riff and then heads into a chunky, upbeat riff.  Vocalist Mia Karlsson actually sings the chorus in big, epic style, and sounds less rough than on some of the other tracks. Another great track from this new album is Electric Sky, which is reminiscent of something Dio would have done. The lead guitar work on the whole album is impressive, with bluesy bends and complicated scales during the solos. Overall In the Red is definitely worthy of a listen if you’re an 80’s metal/thrash metal fan. It’s also cool to find a band that can deal with serious issues, and still knows how to party.