Sebastian Bach, “Child Within The Man.”

Sebastian Bach is best known from his stint as lead singer of Skid Row, the glam-styled metal band of the late ’80s and early ’90s or, depending on your age and musical tastes, the Tiki from “The Masked Singer.” But as metalheads know, he’s also an accomplished solo artist.

He also hasn’t released a solo album in 10 years. That’s a shame, because many consider Give ‘Em Hell his best. The good news is it was worth the wait; Child Within the Man is even better.

Bach covers a lot of metal ground on the album’s 11 tracks. He dabbles in a lot of sounds and subgenres, nailing nearly all of them. He’s always had mainstream-friendly pop sensibilities and combining that with so many styles makes for a fun album that could be a great introduction to a novice curious about the range of what heavy metal can be.

The album kicks off with the driving “Everybody Bleeds,” a great introduction for what you’re about to hear. Bach’s glam sensibilities in the vocals are still there—they aren’t on every track, but they shine here—but the music is noticeably heavier than it was a decade ago and the pace is noticeably slower. This is excellent because it’s extremely well done, and because Bach is in his mid 50s and ’80s metal vocals aren’t sustainable in the long run. It doesn’t hurt that heavier metal is more popular these days.

“Freedom,” the next track, picks up the pace and goes more ’80s with the vocals but keep the heaviness. It also features guitarist John 5, who contributes a solo that’s great even by his lofty standards.

The first shift into fairly new territory comes with “(Hold On) To The Dream.” It starts off as a pretty traditional power ballad but before long becomes the sort of plodding heavy metal song that inspired death metal and other extreme genres. It’s less bait and switch and more pleasant surprise.

Single “What Do I Got To Lose” has an extremely catchy guitar riff and the album’s characteristic lower tone, with solid vocals, but nothing about it especially stands out. I get the idea of spotlighting one of the more traditional songs but there are tracks outside the usual box that are better to spotlight.

The heaviness peaks at “Hard Darkness.” True to the name, the instrumentals border on melodic death metal and the vocals get right to the edge of screaming. It’s fantastically done. It’s great when an old dog learns new tricks, especially when those new tricks are Scandinavian-inspired.

A couple tracks later, “Vendetta” is easily the most modern song of the album due to its vocals and the central riff. But the important thing is that it sounds really good for a guy who’s been performing for 40 years. It’s rare to find an artist with that tenure who tries to keep up with current trends at all, let alone successfully.

“Crucify Me” is definitely out there. There’s a strange, discordant quality to the verses, where the guitar doesn’t quite match the vocals. It’s not horror metal, but it uses that subgenre’s tricks to be just aurally unsettling enough. It’s a hard balance to strike, making me a little uncomfortable but not so much that I took a break.

Album closer “To Live Again” is the power ballad “(Hold On) To The Dream” threatened to be before changing lanes at the last second. Bach is from the ’80s, after all, and every ’80s metal album needed a power ballad, so it makes sense he’d keep to that tradition. It’s no “November Rain,” but it holds its own.

Hopefully Child Within the Man gets enough attention to encourage Bach to pivot back from the reality show circuit and pursue these new avenues he’s exploring. His last two albums have been his best work, the last only surpassed by this new release, so I can’t wait to see where he goes next.

Follow publisher Daniel J. Willis at @bayareadata.press on BlueSky.