Customer Reviews

Group Therapy

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Southgang came out a little too late and missed being a part of a great era of music. This disk surfaced in 1992. Had it come out in 1987, it would've gone platinum

Worth picking up if you dig the glam metal style music. These boys from Rome, GA do it a with a southern twang. Some absolute classic on here. "Fire In Your Body" and "Best Friends Girl" are great - but "The Call" and "Misery" back to back, melting into one long song, are the highlights of this disk. Worth it for those two tunes alone.

Southgang is one in a line of bands that came along at the tail end of the 80s metal scene and didn't get the recognition they deserve. They had one minor hit from their debut album ("Tainted Angel"), but this album is where the band really began to strut their stuff. Another reviewer mentioned that had this album been released in 1987 it would have went Platinum... I couldn't agree more. I've owned this album since it came out in 1992, and with every listen, I am still just completely blown away at how much I enjoy listening to this. I would rate this album as one of the top ten discs in my entire collection. Songwise, I could honestly live without the first track, but from there on, this album is simply as good as melodic rock gets. Fire in your Body, Final Resting Place, Misery, and The Call are tremendous standout tracks. The only downside to all of this is that singer Jesse Hart hasn't done any other work to my knowledge outside of one track on Erik Turner's Demo for Diehards album. He's really a terrific vocalist, and you'll wish there was more available from him. But on the flipside, guitarist Butch Walker took his turn behind the mic and has released a handful of quality albums through The Marvelous 3 and solo work. Bottom line, if you're a fan of Bon Jovi, Warrant, Skid Row, etc., then you should certainly pick this one up. The debut is almost as good, and should be picked up if you can find it reasonably priced, too.

1992's Group Therapy was the second album from L.A. (by way of Georgia) hair metal band Southgang. They were one of a handful of late arrivals to the Hollywood scene that infused blues and southern rock elements into their hair metal sound.

''Like the band's 1991 debut Tainted Angel, Group Therapy is a slick, polished hair metal album full of upbeat, melodic and radio friendly rock songs. There's a definite move towards a more authentically southern sound on this album, and that may be due to Desmond Child's absence. He put his stamp on the first album, but this time around the songs are a bit rowdier and more fun overall. The album reminds me of what bands like Junkyard and Tangier were doing at the time.

''We all know what happened to the popular music scene around 1992, so it's not really surprising that Group Therapy was Southgang's final album. If you're a serious fan of the late `80s and early `90s melodic rock and hair metal scene, you're going to want to check out Southgang. Unfortunately both of the band's albums are out of print and fairly pricey. I'm surprised Wounded Bird (or better yet Rock Candy) hasn't gotten around to reissuing these gems yet.

Thats all you need to know.

I had this tape about 6 years ago, found one copy of this one, and one of tainted angel at Best Buy. I don't have them anymore, but some of their songs, especially Final Resting Place is just so awesome!... If you still like bands like Trixter and Poison and stuff like that, you will DEFINITLY like Southgang!