- advertisement -

LYNCH MOB
Babylon
Frontiers Music Srl

Oh dear...

So, there are numerous colloquialisms that are befitting to the literary journey we are about to embark upon, however "those who can do, and those who can't, review" seems befitting. However there is a slight to this as I can, I have and I actively choose not to these days for fear that I may fall prey to what Sensai Lynch has afforded the listeners after a 6 year LYNCH MOB hiatus in this Frontiers Music Srl (sigh, another story) and this long play affectionately titled Babylon.

LYNCH MOB's born on date was 1989, in those glorious yesterday's of the "Decade of Decadence", the "Greed Era" and my favorite the "Excess is Best" era and Lynch Mob, George and his alter ego previous band mate Don Dokken, certainly had zero issues with allowing the modicum of popularity inflate their respective egos to seam splitting pressures, affording us teens at the time a choice, or options, DOKKEN, Don Dokken and the LYNCH MOB. Of course NOTHING George will touch, release, play on will touch those early DOKKEN records and that mantra folds into what should be the one and done LYNCH MOB album Wicked Sensation, worthy the price of admission just for the title track and "River of Love". Of course 1989 was on the cusp of the end of the 80's, the era, and the best decade of music ever to be recorded, yep I said that.

With regards to George and his LYNCH MOB, the band was on again, off again, with a revolving door of supporting musicians (I counted/recalled 34, oof) and a style pallet that is equally befuddling, at times laughable, and even worse, vomit inducing. It is a shame our heroes at times chose to hop on the current band wagon and attempt a release, usually many years too late a record just not befitting to their musical prowess and certainly a disservice to their fan base. Babylon is the 8th, or 10th if you count live albums, official release from LYNCH MOB.

So, all that fluffernutter aside, let us talk about Babylon, of which and to my chagrin, I would prefer to just, as Idina Menzel sang, "Let It Go", but I am afraid that luxury doesn't exist today. A disclaimer is in order as well, as from across the street the band, including George are all consummate professionals and play with a seasoned professionals flair, albeit what we will learn is wasted.

Babylon begins with "Erase", an atypical Lynch riff ripped from 2 handfuls of previous (better) records, littered with a muddy reverb that plods the listener through, an absolutely phoned in variant of a d-side unreleased single from the DOKKEN 1987 release Back For The Attack, which is a theme on Babylon, but an unfortunate miss, not a win. "Erase" even features a spoken word section that although differing wording is a downright rip from "It's Not Love". "Time After Time" (video on KNAC.COM HERE) is as close to an early LYNCH MOB tune as we will see on Babylon (in the pre-chorus mostly), but "Time" is littered with rips from THE CULT and BANG TANGO, a bad thing, no, just a little lackluster and lazy. "Time After Time" is undoubtedly the better of the songs on Babylon and makes sense why it was the first single. "Caught Up". FFS. Just go listen to "The Hunter", a far superior song and one that "Caught Up" plays literally note for note with a wonky tangent or 2 thrown in just because I guess. "I'm Ready", oh my goodness. Well, "I'm Ready" simply rips VAN HALEN's "Panama" throughout, but makes it sound like a record played at the wrong speed and underwater. Then the chorus, and in and around the song incorporates some bad SAIGON KICK rips. "How You Fall"........................... just stop. "How You Fall" is "Mr Scary" with lyrics. Is it bad, meh, but why?

"Million Miles Away" is the quintessential ballad that rips "Last Decade Dead Century" WARRIOR SOUL note for every third note. Gabriel's voice is on point however and his wailing of the title at points is as heartfelt a presentation as any done by Seb Bach in his heyday. Gabriel even hits a Jani Lane inspired "Whowahw" that triggers "Cherry Pie" PTSD. "Let It Go" rips another late 80's tune I can't dig up from the depths, maybe something from TROUBLE TRIBE, maybe TORA TORA or BABYLON A.D.??? but regardless, the tune is lackluster at best and the production (or lack thereof) doesn't do the song any favors. "Fire Master" is just unlistenable. The verse is the worst type of ALICE IN CHAINS mockery that segues into a chorus that almost gets you into it with the "Fire" but that is like the joy of not stubbing your foot trying to navigate the precarious path to the restroom in a friend's house for a 3 am piss. The midpoint of the song and its breakdown is another case of ire. Just yuck. Oh, and the outro solo, did no one notice the insanely sloppy edit as it skips into play. Yikes. C'mon Frontiers. "The Synner" (video on KNAC.COM HERE) is just bad, wrapped in bad. A sad attempt at a funky Cheech And Chong-esque "Earache My Eye" that again, might be neat, but the presentation is as flat as the production. Closing the record is the over 8 minute long title track, "Babylon", which, like its predecessors is drivel. Droning, I assume detuned, and I suppose if it was your little sister's band, recorded in her parent's rec room on a Tascam 4 track you'd be impressed, but from this band the bar is higher without saying. At the 3:30 mark in "Babylon", we get an entirely new song, equally as bad as the previous and just weirdly offputting and out of place, kind of the static vibe of the record, a record that makes you feel uncomfortable. The outro solo is similar to the noise Jim Carey produces in Dumb And Dumber when Lloyd poses the question, "Hey, you wanna hear the most annoying sound in the world?"

So, Babylon, by LYNCH MOB. Sure George, after 400 years of making music is beginning to, continuing to repeat himself, which can usually warrant a pass or 10, as layering in some tasty little easter eggs for the listener to find is usually a well received treat and what would be considered a tribute of sorts to the original artists and the genre/generation that the artist is paying homage to. This is not the case herein. Babylon is a muddy, underproduced, genre crusher. A record that is like a super ball in a cement room, all over the place and if you're unlucky can tap you in the nuts, absolutely destroying you for hours, and not in any form of good. Babylon is just bad and I can not find much good in it. One does wonder if the record got re-produced, losing the blown speaker mentality??? We will never know. I wanted desperately to enjoy it and I listened to it nonstop for a month, but each and every play just cemented how bad of an album it is, so much so that it made me mad at it, which is not how I like my music.

Do yourself an aural favor and go buy DOKKEN's Back For The Attack, VAN HALEN's 1984, SAIGON KICK's The Lizard, BANG TANGO's Psycho Cafe or any of the numerous superior albums from the best genre in musical history. Thanks George, but no thanks and that seems to be his sentiment as well as his official Facebook doesn't even mention this release. WTF?

2.0 Out Of 5.0