ANGELS OF BABYLON - review added 25th January 2010
Album Review: Kingdom Of Evil (2010)
For fans of: Heavy Metal... and cool line-ups
Oh my, this is a beast of a band! Formed over the last year or two, Angels of Babylon is Kenny Earl 'Rhino' Edwards (Manowar) on drums, David Ellefson (Megadeth) on bass, Ethan Brosh on guitar and David Fefolt on vocals.
The sound is a mix of Dio-era Black Sabbath and Rainbow, power metal, doom and the occasional instrumental interlude. This is music that only works at one volume. A certain band (who had a film made about them) described that volume as '11'.
Although it demands all knobs turned fully clockwise, the overall sound on Kingdom Of Evil is well balanced. Whatever glory there might be is shared out between the contributors. Every member brings something to the table; this is not a band dominated by an egocentric guitarist, precocious singer, star bassist or limelight hunting drummer. This is a band effort through and through, and everyone has their time in the spotlight.
The drumming is thumpingly, crushingly loud. The guitar playing is speedy, precise, and in places darn right phenomenal. The bass is...by David Ellefson. Yep, not much else you can say. David Fefolt doesn't have a sweet musical voice that could lend itself to any genre. He has a heavy metal voice pure and simple. If he sang the Lord's Prayer it would sound like Tony Iommi was accompanying him.
However, with all the prowess behind the performances on this album, I am surprised the songs aren't several notches better. This isn't a bad release as such, but with such a line-up I really did expect a lot more. Much of the album is barely on the good side of the tired/anonymous divide - if you fancied a well-worn cliché you could describe it as metal by numbers. Opening track 'Conspiracy Theory' and 'Oh How The Mighty Have Fallen' end up as the best tracks, although the beautiful instrumental 'The Remnant' deserves praise.
In the end this album might be your cup of tea, it might not be. I really do recommend having a listen first before you buy as I went into this with high hopes only to have them shot down. Kingdom Of Evil would be an acceptable release from a lesser bunch of people. From these guys, it's simply not special enough.
Check out... The album before you buy. You might like it, you might not...
Track List:
01. Conspiracy Theory
02. Apocalypse 2012
03. Night Magic
04. Tear Out My Heart
05. Oh How The Mighty Have Fallen
06. Tarot
07. Kingdom Of Evil
08. The Remnant
09. Angels Of Babylon
10. Second Coming
Label: Metal Heaven
Artist's website(s): MySpace
