Babylon Mystery Orchestra The Godless, The Godforsaken and the God Damned Review by Gary Hill
I don’t know what I like so much about Babylon Mystery Orchestra, but I like it a lot. The vocals are deep and almost growled, but not death metal style. While they are unusual, somehow they really get under your skin. The music is hard edged and either proggy metal or metallic prog. I include it under progressive rock, but it could just as easily fit in heavy metal. This is dark and deep stuff. It is also awesome. I loved the previous one, and I love this album, too. It’s highly recommended for those with a sense of musical adventure.
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Track by Track Review
Catspaw
This hard edged rocker reminds me a lot of something that Hawkwind might do. It’s got space rock styled keyboards in places, but really feels like something from Chronicle of the Black Sword.
Apollo While this one isn’t quite as hard rocking, it’s every bit as cool. In fact, the musical tones here are even more dramatic. While I liked the opener a lot, this one stands above that one.
Benai Elohim The main formula hasn’t been altered, but this is just more of the same kind of chugging hard rock.
A Constitutional Right? A spoken recitation is delivered over space rock elements in this short piece.
Jesus Save... Keyboards lead this off. As the other instruments join it takes on a hard rock sound. There’s a section later in the cut that’s mellower and quite dramatic. Then we get a fiery jam coming out of it.
Hate Crime This piece is strangely accessible and catchy. I like it a lot. In fact, I might say that this is my favorite piece on the set.
Ruin We’re back into Hawkwind-like territory with this rocker.
Viva Cristo Rey! More like heavy metal, this is another killer track.
'We' Is Killin 'Me' The main format doesn’t get changed a lot, but this is another that works especially well. It’s one of the standouts of the set.
Godless It just keeps getting better. I really like this song. It’s hard edged and a little raw, but in a great way. It’s got quite a bit of prog rock in it, too. I can hear bits of Anubis Spire and old Rush here.
You're On Your Own...This Time Mellower and more melodic, this is essentially a progressive rock ballad. It’s dark and twisted. It’s also awesome. It’s one of my favorites here.
The Twelfth Imam This cut is somewhere between the last one and the rest of the album. It’s another strong track on a killer disc.
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