Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Babylon A.D.
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2017
Length: 44:46
Rating: 4/5
It’s only fair that we say a few words about the comeback album from the American band Babylon A.D., called »Revelation Highway«. It’s only their fourth studio album, with the first two coming out between 1989 and 1992. Those two slotted them right into the glam metal scene that was all the rage back then, while the third album, »American Blitzkrieg« (2000), went feeling around for new musical horizons and marked a major stylistic departure from everything Babylon A.D. had delivered on their first two records. A move that helped the band more than it hurt. And then another 14 years went by before the band got back together and came back to life with a run of live shows, including a stop in the summer of 2016 at Germany’s Bang Your Head!!! festival, where they delivered one hell of a show. With those gigs, the return of original guitarist John Mathew to the band, and a deal with the Italian label Frontiers Records, Babylon A.D. are serving up, on their fourth try, an album that should have come out ages ago. Which means it’s a true stylistic continuation of the first two albums.
On it, they’re once again speaking the musical language that carved their name into the world’s rock alphabet when »Babylon A.D.« and »Nothing Sacred« came out, with just one (important) difference: alongside its considerable musical melodiousness and hunger, the new material leans noticeably harder into a hard rock attitude, drawn from inspiration in the pioneers of old-school musical craft, and the band doesn’t shy away from flirting with elements of blues either. The band members’ past musical adventures in other projects, during the years when Babylon A.D. were on ice, hint at all of this too. That vibe, that experience, and the maturing of the musicians have carried over into the new material, which in this day and age is an authentic reflection of the mindset of a spiritually rejuvenated Babylon A.D.
A beefy, ravenously thick vice grip of guitar riffs, a piercing, charismatic vocal from Derek Davis that’s remarkably well preserved for the modern era! A rock-solid, cocky rhythm drive all over the place! The quintet breathing as one in realizing their vision and musical goals! All of it reflected in an extremely dynamic, lively, organic sound production. The band has pinned loads of delicate, sentimental ornamentation onto the transitions in the songs, the tracks often build up gradually from verse through pre-chorus into an atmospheric chorus crescendo, and the mid-eight passages are colorfully spiced up with guitar acrobatics. The songs keep a common thread of songwriting while being varied enough in ideas that the album never runs out of steam over its running time, and keeps the listener firmly glued to it the whole way through.
In short: an album that boasts outstanding songwriting and production quality, an album we’ve waited a long time for and finally got from this in many ways obscure and overlooked band, who are now making excellent use of their original musical recipe and adding to it, in these new times, those old-school touches that take you into the bosom of bands like Led Zeppelin, Cactus, Vanilla Fudge and a few others. But all in one, if you want a modest label, it’s typically Babylon A.D. Freshened up for the new era, with a renaissance. Let’s hope for more of the same.
Line-up
Derek Davis – vocals, keyboards, acoustic guitar
Ron Freschi – guitar, vocals
John Matthews – guitar, vocals
Robb Reid – bass, vocals
James Pacheco – drums, percussion
Production
Derek Davis
Track list
01. Crash And Burn
02. Fool On Fire
03. One Million Miles
04. Tears
05. She Likes To Give It
06. Rags To Riches
07. Last Time For Love
08. I’m No Good For You
09. Saturday Night
10. Don’t Tell Me Tonight
