Nasty Savage - Jeopardy Room

Angry Metal Guy

I did NOT have a brand new Nasty Savage album on my bingo card for 2024, or ever for that matter. I was a big fan in the 80s, finding the belligerent, over-the-top attitude of unhinged frontman/WWF wannabe Nasty Ronnie to be the perfect match for the band’s oddball blend of trad-metal and thrash.¹ Their 1985 debut was like a loony hodge-podge of Venom, Manowar, and Mercyful Fate, with the Floridian bruisers trying to settle on the right tone and style. 1987s follow-up Indulgence was a tougher, meaner hombre full of technically precise thrash with proggy accents. 89s Penetration Point took the prog elements and pushed them further to join the wave of bands experimenting with tech-thrash in the late 80s like Watchtower and Toxik. After that the joy ride ended and the band imploded. They reformed to drop a respectable comeback in 2004 and then promptly folded again. An album 20 years later is a big surprise because Nasty Savage never seemed like it was made up of guys destined to live long, healthy lives. Nasty Ronnie was a trailer park psycho living with alligators and the rest of the band was equally sketchy. And yet Jeopardy Room finds Ronnie very much alive and kicking supported by an all-new lineup of unsavory riff-raff.² What will a Nasty Savage album sound like in the modern age? I was a bit scared to find out, honestly.

After a short intro piece, the title track roars out with a shockingly ageless sound very much in line with their Indulgence era. Fiery caveman thrash is the rotgut of the day with Ronnie grunting and shouting over aggressive riif chaos just like in the olde days. In fact, Ronnie sounds exactly the same, which is crazy. It’s a classic Savage track with the same kind of burly, bullying thrash riffs and concussive force I depended on during gym time in my angry teens. “Brain Washer” is a big dose of low-brow speed that pays big, dumb dividends with Ronnie hysterically shouting “Brainwasher, Brainwasher!!” like an inmate at Arkham Asylum. It also weaves proggy ideas through the thuggish brutality in a way where you don’t even notice them at first. “Witches Sabbath” is a throwback to the debut where they dabbled in Mercyful Fate and King Diamond influences, going for a moody, mysterious atmosphere complete with horror movie keyboards. It’s cheesy and ham-fisted but somehow ends up working and those riffs are pure Sherman/Denner.

Jeopardy Room is a classic Savage album in that it tries to represent all the stages of their too-short career. You get the trad and thrash and prog, but thrashers dominate the day. “Blood Syndicate” hits especially hard toward the album’s conclusion as furious, weighty riffs run wild and Ronnie roars like an enraged silverback as a woman reaches ever closer to climax in the background for whatever reason. Classic Savage. Sure, not every track hits the mark. “Schizoid Platform” tries to balance hog-defiling speed and prog with awkward results, and “Operation Annihilate” is rudimentary idiocy but still fairly entertaining. The overall balance favors the nasty, as most tracks are good with a few rising higher. It’s a motley collection of metal zingers by a real motley crew of ne’er-do-wells and it’s surprisingly spry and energized.

The big surprise here is Mr. Nasty himself. Ronnie sounds like he’s been in cryofreeze since the mid-90s. His husky baritone bellows are still stuffed full of toxic masculinity and goonism and he’s highly effective. He foregoes the King Diamond-esque high-pitched falsettos he employed in the past but I don’t miss them. He’s still a massive presence behind the mic and he can probably still toss a few wimps ass-over-teakettle into the rotpit. New guitarist Dave Orman does an excellent job mimicking the axe styles of original members Ben Meyer and David Austin, which is no easy feat as they always had a very distinct and usual approach. His riffs are thick, razor-sharp, and oppressive with a slightly proggy flare often present even in the most thrash-tastical cuts. He’s slick as shit without departing from the mission statement of kicking poser ass. The whole band is tight and polished, making Olde Man Ronnie sound like an angry 20-something again. Kudos.

I didn’t expect much from Jeopardy Room, but it’s a fun and forceful throwback to the band’s early days of drunken excess and alligator humping. It reeks of 1987, warm beer, and moist BO, which means it smells like Nasty Savage sounds. Give this a loud, angry spin and rock the double-wide. After that, go discover or re-discover their classics and get swole.



Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: FHM Records
Websites: nastysavage.com | instagram.com/nastysavageband
Releases Worldwide: October 11th, 2024

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