ROBERT SWEET'S FREAKIN' - LOVE TRASH (2000, WORLD GONE MAD RECORDS)
Robert Sweet - guitars, bass, drums
Larry Worley - vocals

Background
I'm not really sure what to make of this album to be honest. Robert of course is better known as the blonde bomber drummer with Christian renegade rockers Stryper, who's direction was a bible bashing and head mashing mix of melodic rock. Whereby brother Michael Sweet has gone off in a less harder rockin' style than Stryper, Robert has definitely gone in the opposite direction, and turned the amps up big time with this heavier than thou album 'Love Trash'.

The Songs
Robert has also got the wherewithall to do all of the instrumentation himself, with help from Larry Worley, who has a voice combining the power of Sebastian Bach and vocalists from other modern heavy rock bands of the nineties. The music is a mixture, and most would dismiss it as a late arrival on the grunge scene. However, it does have some redeeming (excuse the religious connotations .. it is purely accidental) features, in that the music itself isn't half bad. Especially from a guy better known for throwing drumsticks and bibles! The guitars crunch without any apology, while the backbeat is as heavy as can be expected from one of the best drummers around. Lyrically we get some insightful views of life from Mr Sweet, wrapped up in 4 minutes of mind bending music. Though the music is heavy, the message is not, with great lyrical observations for everyone to take away and think about. At first glance, when you look at the song titles like 'The F Word', or 'I'm ?@#$%&!' you'd think this was the antithesis of everything Christian about Sweet, but no, thats not the case. The 'F Word' is about the word forgiveness, while the other is about God, and without him we'd be screwed (hence the '?@#$%&!').

In Summary
Yes it's heavy, yes it's rock, and yes it has a message. But I think that even though Robert has produced this album in good faith, he's missed the boat somewhat, and I feel that this is far too drastic a direction for him to have taken, and he borders heavily on isolating his past fans. However time will tell how he fares with 'Love Trash'.

Track Listing:
01 Help Me To Help Myself
02 Love Trash
03 The F Word
04 Any Enemy
05 Sweet Betrayal
06 Me Myself And You
07 I'm ?@#$%&!
08 Best Regrets
09 Love Trash (Radio Mix)
10 Sweet Betrayal (Radio Mix)

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Posted by gdazegod on August 14, 2003 · 0 Comments · 1077 Reads ·