Seventeen years separate Ugly Kid Joe’s last album, Motel California, with their 2013 return to Stairway to Hell. From the title alone, things feel just like the days of old, with the band back up to their old tricks (if Motel California was taking a light-hearted dig at the Eagles, their current album is an equally snarky reference to Led Zeppelin). So what do the early ‘90s teen pranks and grunge tricksters sound like on their return? Stairway to Hell is cranked up and ready to destroy the speakers – but overall, it does not sound nearly as good as before.
The opening track “Devil’s Paradise” starts with a searing riff that practically screams with “We’re back!” bravado. Whitfield Crane’s vocals, this time, summon a bit of a surprise. On this disc, he sounds like himself – only this time coated with a gloss of Layne Staley meets Ozzy Osbourne inflection to his voice. It comes across as a bit strange, given their earlier works had him using a more distinctive vocal styling.
As for the songs themselves, the opener is a time-warped ode to sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll straight out of the 1990s, passed through a heavy grunge filter. It makes for a great way to get things rolling. Just as the fun starts, things take a jarring turn that almost derails the album on song two.
“Makes Me Sick” is a buffet of the worst overly violent butt-rock clichés all wrapped up into a drab, thudding backing tune that is as boring as the song is silly. Fair is fair. If lyrics like the ones heard in this song come from a band known for violent butt-rock cliches, then it would sound fine. Here, it’s just out of place, and it sounds like they’re trying too hard to be edgy.
Mercifully, Ugly Kid Joe redeem themselves greatly by quieting down with “No One Survives”, a pleasant respite from the crash of the first two tracks. On this cut, they manage to re-capture the magic that made their cover of “Cat’s in the Cradle” a hit, but only this time, they do it with a song of their own.
This back-and-forth characterizes the album: the band mines its strength but too often falls back on weaknesses when they reach for material that isn’t their strong suit. “Love Ain’t True” wants to be the perfect sneering grunge kiss-off anthem, but it is too mean, at least for the kind of music one usually expects from this band. Again, the key word when thinking of Ugly Kid Joe is mischievous pranksters, which is not the sort of band you would expect bitter breakup anthems from.
The free-wheeling I-don’t-care attitude comes back, thankfully, with “Another Beer”, which finds Ugly Kid Joe taking the same bitterness they mined in “Love Ain’t True” and softens it into a not-quite-grunge and not-quite-country tune extolling the virtue of simple tastes. They soften up further on “Would You Like to Be There”, as close to a full-on ballad as you’ll hear on a disc that is otherwise coated in sludge of both the catchy and not-so-catchy variety.
Bottom line: Ugly Kid Joe still know how to craft crunchy, fun grunge tunes, but they have lost some of their spark; they’ve lost sight of what made them fun and enjoyable to listen to as a band, which makes this album just OK. Even so, Stairway to Hell has enjoyable moments. Longtime fans will likely enjoy this, while newcomers are best advised to stick with America’s Least Wanted and then turn to Stairway to Hell for more if they like what they hear.