Released 8 years after their last album with front man Sebastian Bach, THICKSKIN is the first album to feature vocalist Johnny Solinger. It seems immediately apparent that the band is suffering through an identity crisis here. If you were to blindfold me, I wouldn't even know this was Skid Row. Instead, the band seems to be reinventing itself into an edgier version of Pearl Jam as Solinger adopts an undeniably Vedder-ish tone on songs like "Ghost". There are a few moments ("New Generation" and "Thick As The Skin") where you can hear their original sound coming through, but Solinger's delivery obscures their identity a lot. The overall approach seems to be influenced by the 90s alternative/grunge scene and just sounds a bit generic and the band becomes a bit faceless. Old fans will need to readjust their expectations quite a bit to embrace their new sound. Also, there aren't really any songs here that I'd cite as anything special - and that's the biggest problem.
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