Back into Your System

by Brian O'NeillSophomore Saliva salvo (the second disc on major Island, to be more accurate) Back into Your System makes no bones about what it is, an uncomplicated rock record, though the band itself proves to be a shade more multifarious than the hits on the preceding Every Six Seconds would indicate. The jacket features a boom box that would have LL Cool J doing a double take. That said, the funk that the Memphis natives bring is of the Grand Funk Railroad variety more than anything else, the syncopated delivery of "Raise Up" (which seems like an updated version of radio smash "Click Click Boom") is actually an aberration, and tagging the group as modern-day rap-metal is missing the point. Aside from being heavier overall, the histrionic "Always" sounds like Kiss melodrama circa Animalize, "All Because of You" and "Separated Self" offer a contrasting of powerful riffage within the scope of typical power balladry, and "Pride" is a grinding thrasher about patriotism that seems honest as only good ol' southern boys can manage it, even if the slide guitar and sexy drawl of "Holdin On" shows that they're not shy about flyin' the Confederate flag alongside ol' glory. The best thing about Back Into Your System is that the disc doesn't seem to pander to rock radio as much as others of its ilk, but it should still (and did) manage success there regardless.