Despite the alienating snarl of the title
Savages,
Theory of a Deadman find space for guests on their fifth album.
Alice Cooper wanders into the title track to mumble a recitation and
Joe Don Rooney -- aka the
Rascal Flatt who plays guitar but doesn't front the band -- comes in for the tongue-in-cheek "Livin' My Life Like a Country Song." This isn't the only time
TOAD play around on
Savages. They jab at
Chris Brown and the Kardashians on "Blow," they claim they're living through "World War Me," they write an ode to their "Panic Room," and they enlist a children's choir to help them bring "The Sun Has Set on Me" to its rousing conclusion. As before, producer
Howard Benson gives
TOAD a muscular sound that accentuates the group's debt to
Nickelback -- they both specialize in growled singsong riffs -- and his sinewy sheen is appealing; he shines the big hooks and layers the riffs so they contain a visceral force. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine