Labels: self released
Review by: MH
Babies Three have been around a good while although they have been and gone before and are now gone again. They were a very good band and one that has changed over time so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect here but I wasn’t expecting this album to be so heavy and dark. Sonically it is closer to the “The Luzhin Defence” than their older more emo or punkier output but this is much more powerful and heavy. I don’t know the background as to how the personnel in the band has changed, if at all, but I know this could have ended up as something of a lost album. They were keen on getting this out – it is something they are proud of and rightly so. By the sounds of it they went through a hell of a lot in getting it recorded. It is also a concept album – theological based and lyrically vitriolic – sincere and firey. It follows a story from the pummelling opener, “The Ballad Of Ghost” through to track 10. For the most part, this is some fairly brutal and furious Yaphet Kotto-style grooving post hardcore with abrasive vocals, heavy riffs and a thick bass sound that wouldn’t be out of place on a Jesus Lizard record. The real variation comes at the end with a trio of tracks entitled “Punishment” (1,2 and 3). The first one is some solemn guitar with a quite bleak voiceover sample about the jungle. There is then a lengthy acoustic track with sung vocals which has an almost dreamlike, choral feel to it with its layered vocals. It borders on haunting and is a song that remained stuck in my head after the first listen alone. This one features a cello and a harp. The album finishes with a lumbering, heavy and doom-laden instrumental. Menacing from start to finish.