Mad enough to spitSFlbSaliva works out its aggressions

By John Benson

The new record has angry undertones.

Armed with its new album “Cinco Diablo,” rock act Saliva is promising a physical show when it comes to the Wedge in Austintown on Monday with Shinedown and Halestorm.

“It’ll be high energy,” said guitarist Jonathan Montoya, calling from a tour stop in Cleveland a few weeks ago. “We try to bring the most to every show. Like if somebody is not passing out, sweating, puking or bleeding by the end of the show, then we haven’t done a very good job, in my opinion.”

It sounds like concertgoers better make sure their health-insurance premiums are paid in full before the show.

“Right,” Montoya laughed, “call Blue Cross/Blue Shield first, and then come on out and have a good time.”

The aggression Montoya jokes about actually stems from a serious subject that fueled the band’s songwriting sessions for “Cinco Diablo.” Whereas the group’s past releases, such as 2004’s “Survival of the Sickest” and 2007’s “Blood Stained Love Story” were anthemic, radio-friendly efforts targeting the fun side of life, the band felt the weight of the world was too present to ignore for its latest album.

“It’s just a Saliva record but a little bit darker and a little bit heavier,” Montoya said. “I don’t know if we were ticked off as much as just tired of the way things are going in the world and just tired of watching people die for no reason. Pretty much, I guess it was a matter of a conscious decision to make a more [angry] record, the more I think about it.”

Written and recorded in Los Angeles last summer during a climate of $4-per-gallon gasoline, Iraq war headlines and the tense presidential election battle, the 11-track CD finds the group tackling heavy subject matter and even showing off its emotional side. Specifically with the latter, the band recorded piano-based “So Long.”

“It’s really bare-bones piano and minimal guitar,” Montoya said. “It’s very different and shows us stepping out. Compared to say [album track] ‘Hunt You Down,’ which is very comfortable for us being big and ballsy, ‘So Long’ is very vulnerable. I think it’s showing we can appeal to all audiences too. We’re not just big hard-rocker, in-your-face guys. We have a sensitive side.”

He added, “A lot of people don’t see that side of us because everyone sees us as crazy on stage. They don’t know that sometimes I feel like that song. I feel lonely and depressed even though there’s 100 people in the same room with me.”

Montoya said fans attending the band’s upcoming show should expect to hear plenty of the group’s old hits (“Always,” “Your Disease,” “Ladies and Gentlemen” and “Click Click Boom”), about half the new album and even a cover of Motley Crue’s “Kickstart My Heart.”

Saliva has played Youngstown numerous times in the last five years, and it’s always a raucous crowd. But aside from that, there’s another reason Montoya’s looking forward to returning to the area.

“There’s a lot of fun people there, and I’ve met a lot of great girls there,” Montoya laughed.