Album Review: Suzi Quatro - "The Devil In Me"

 

Suzi Quatro's previous album, 2019's No Control was honestly the first of her 21st century output that I'd heard when I reviewed it for Pure Rawk. Maybe it's because I was expecting Devil Gate Drive part 2 but I was a little bit disappointed with the more "mature" direction, veering off into almost cocktail jazz territory in places. With this new album being touted as a return to her roots, my general thought upon reading the blurb was "oh aye? We'll see about that..."

So when the opening title track of The Devil In Me kicks in with a downright filthy guitar riff before ripping into a chugging glam rock riff, it feels like the queen's returned to sit on her throne. And I'm happy to say that it sets the tone nicely for the album with the stomping riff of Hey Queenie and the bluesy stomp of Betty Who? keeping the tempo up. It's as if Suzi has taken the slightly mid-paced blues of her previous effort and casually dosed it in nitro to give it a bit of extra kick. And I for one am not complaining about that.

The highlights come thick and fast here on the first half of the record - You Can't Dream It and Get Outta Jail both pack a satisfying crunch with their chugging guitars and I Sold My Soul Today ups the tempo to an almost Ramones level with the only real red light being the Motown influenced Christmas ballad My Heart And Soul which is inoffensive enough but it just doesn't fit in here and would've been best left as a festive release standing on its own.

Unfortunately, just when you think Suzi's properly hit a rich vein of form again, side two has three numbers (Isolation Blues, Love's Gone Bad and In The Dark) which hark back to the sluggish blues-rock of No Control and could have comfortably been left off here which are pretty much the equivalent of hitting two miles of roadworks after ten miles cruising on the motorway. But at least the frenetic Motor City Riders (which would've sat quite nicely on Alice Cooper's recent excellent Detroit Stories album) finishes this one off nicely.

The Devil In Me is very much an album of two halves (Brian). Side one, apart from the Christmas ballad, is pretty much a non-stop rock riot and comes highly recommended, it's just those needless slow songs on side two that come perilously close to derailing this one altogether. However, there's more good than bad here and I'd definitely recommend this album for a listen for glam fans old and new alike. Just be prepared to hit the skip button a bit in the later stages, that's all...

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑🌑 (7/10)

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