Roots Rock Riot (2007)
12 tracks, 45 minutes
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Last week we had Roots Rock Soca by Black Stalin, a play on Bob Marley’s song ‘Roots Rock Reggae’. Well, today we have another, this time in the form of Roots Rock Riot by Welsh group Skindred. Given the shared reference, it’s probably not surprising that there’s a Caribbean connection at the heart of all three. But Skindred take the ‘rock’ part very seriously.
I seem to say ‘this artist wasn’t like how I expected them to be’ quite a lot, and I was going to say it again, except that isn’t true. For Skindred, I didn’t have any expectation – when I first saw them, I had never heard of them before they came on stage. It was at the Manchester Academy, where they were supporting Gogol Bordello. I had no idea who the support was going to be, and I was expecting them to be the usual sort of entertaining but forgettable sort of act to just get you in the mood and buying an extra couple of drinks before the main band comes on. Not this time. The impact Skindred had, it was like the gig was a double-header. They were so good. They weren’t even not what I was expecting, they were playing something I’d never even thought would exist before.
Because Skindred play ragga metal. It’s like reggae pumped up to maximum aggressiveness, or if metal grew up in Jamaica. It really does seem as if the mix would just be an incongruous mess, but it just works so, so well. There are bits of hip-hop, punk and R’n’B in there occasionally too, but when they get those screaming guitars, chugging chords and double-bass pedals going under some intense ragga verses, only to flip over and have screaming and growling over electronics – that’s when it really hits the spot.
Lead singer Benji Webbe is a brilliant frontman for the group, and I just love the way he has four distinct voices in his repertoire. There’s the straight-outta-Kingston ragga-rap sound, deep and croaky; the metal screaming and growling; a surprisingly high-pitched and smooth singing voice; and his hilariously out-of-place speaking voice, warm and gentle with a strong South Walian lilt. Put them all together, and he’s the got the perfect range for a band like Skindred.
Roots Rock Riot is one of those albums that I assume I’d remember one or two songs from, the highlights, but then I listen through and I’m remembering almost every track, each as banging as the last. ‘Rude Boy for Life’, ‘Spit Out the Poison’, ‘Trouble’, ‘Destroy the Dancefloor’ and of course the opening title-track too…they’re all super hard hitting and it’s incredibly difficult to refrain from moshing along, bouncing angrily – yet merrily – off nearby household furniture. Incidentally, the album provides an amazing soundtrack for a workout, by the way. Just don’t be surprised if the other people in the gym give you a bit of a wider berth after you’ve been headbanging on the exercise bikes.
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