BABY JANE – In The Spotlight (2012)
BABY JANE born around 2007 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Almost 5 years after the band formed and several demos recorded, Baby Jane will release their first studio album “In The Spotlight”, which is inspired by the journey the four piece combo has made with gigs in the nordic countries, Germany and Great Britain. Fortunately, the wait was not in vain, as they say; ‘if you wait for something good, waiting can never be to long’.
Part of the exciting musical movement known as the New Wave of Swedish Sleaze Metal, Baby Jane nail the sound, the attitude, the production, the songs, the drums, the… well, they pretty much nail everything. Bands like Crashdiet, Hardcore Superstar and Crazy Lixx may have gotten the Swedish hard rock sleaze ball rolling, but Baby Jane give it a good, swift kick in the ass and jack the momentum up another notch or two. This is not a band that must skulk in the shadow of their predecessors; they are more than good enough to stand proudly alongside them.
The riffs, vocals and attitude in “In The Spotlight” are like slap shot in the forehead. I am actually almost as knocked-out as when I heard Crashdiet the first time.
Opener “Raise Your Fist” gives a real idea of how sleaze rock should sound in 2012. The refrain is something you can not stop singing. The next track “My Behavior” is a serious kick-ass hard rocker with guitar riffs sitting like a surgeon’s knife and a precise cut. “Upside Down” is the album only ballad, complete with keyboards and an interesting arrangements, pretty different as you would expect from this kind of bands. But picking out the best tracks is a hard job as every song is good and impactful. No need to individually describe them more either, because writing ‘this song has massive hooks and a huge chorus powered by gang backing vocals’ ten times in a row would get redundant rather quickly.
“In The Spotlight” is a terrific debut by Baby Jane. Everything about their sound and style is big, loud and raucous, just like rock ‘n’ roll should be. Indeed, one of the things that make these guys so great is their stubborn refusal to engage in subtlety. But Baby Jane’s style is not dirty & cheap as many bands of the genre, there’s no ordinary songs here and the melody and good taste are always present. So don’t be spoiled by the ‘sleaze’ label, any melodic hard rock fan will embrace this music with passion. Their success also resides in the strength of the songwriting. Seriously, every anthem on this album is a hot blooded hit. The catchiness factor blasts through the roof, delivered with a don’t-give-a-damn sneer.
Baby Jane lives, breathes, and believes their hard rock sleaze creed, and that authenticity comes through amidst all the slamming drums and huge hooks and ear-candy choruses. Lead singer Freddie bears a vocal resemblance to Tim Skold (Shotgun Messiah) and as far as resemblances go, that’s a good one. Released only in Sweden at the moment, “In The Spotlight” is full of hooks sharper than a cutthroat razor and pounding grooves that slither into your brain-meat and stick there. Baby Jane are the new princes of Swedish sleaze hard rock, and everyone knows that it’s only a matter of time before princes become Kings. Rock ‘N Roll is alive and well in Sweden, and thanks to bands like Baby Jane it will survive much, much longer.
Highly Recommended.
01 – Raise Your Fist
02 – My Behavior
03 – Face Against the Wall
04 – The Secret Lies
05 – Upside Down
06 – In the Spotlight
07 – Next in Line
08 – This is War
09 – Adrenaline
10 – Night Explodes
Freddie: Vocals
Mikey: Guitars
Rikk: Guitars
Manx: Bass
Matt: Drums
BABY JANE – In The Spotlight (2012)