Ugly Kid Joe – “Stairway to Hell” [Album Review]

Man was I into Ugly Kid Joe back in the day. I mean… “Every Thing About You”… who wasn’t into that jam? Fast forward some two decades and the group are back with a new album, Stairway To Hell, that I couldn’t wait to check out.

Perhaps I let my excitement get the best of me because what I found was a sort of mixed bag. The opener, “Devil’s Paradise,” really kicks and is a song that I have since added to my player. The very next track though (“Makes Me Sick”) goes absolutely nowhere and sort of lets the wind out of the sails; a pattern that continues throughout the rest of the disc. I was hoping for more, I know it is 20 years later, but I was still hoping. Alas in the end I was a bit disappointed.

One other thing worth mentioning is the acoustic version of the Cat Stevens’ song, “Cats and the Cradle,” a track the band originally covered on their 1992 release, America’s Least Wanted. It’s a fantastic song to begin with and I think stripped down to bare bones on this album, Ugly Kid Joe have done the song justice. It’s powerful and it’s moving, just as I imagine it was originally supposed to be.

Track Listing:

01. Devil’s Paradise
02. Make Me Sick
03. No One Survives
04. I’m Alright
05. Love Ain’t True
06. Another Beer
07. Cats In The Cradle (Acoustic)
08. Would you Like To Be There
09. No One Survives

Run Time: 32:57
Release Date: April 16, 2013

Check out the song “I’m Alright”