BABYLON MYSTERY ORCHESTRA - The Godless, The Godforsaken And The God Damned
12 songs
59:57 minutes
/
(DIY)
Bandpage
This time, Sidney Allen Johnson is really mad. When he released the first Babylon Mystery Orchestra album in 2003, the USA must have been a paradise for him, with George W. Bush taking over the country from eight years of liberal Clinton rule. More albums followed, with the self-proclaimed crusader still being angry about every left-wing injustice that came to his mind. And now, in the year 2010, the impossible has happened, with the USA once again being ruled by a liberal, possibly the most liberal ever, president in the history of the New World.
The thick booklet of the fifth Babylon Mystery Orchestra CD The Godless, The Godforsaken And The God Damned is consequently a rich source of research done by a diligent right wing conservative. Before the actual lyrics, we get quotes by liberal artists (John Lennon, Sean Penn, Leonardo DiCaprio, Chrissie Hynde and Bono), before we get enlightened on the dozen songs that deal with the most different issues: Hollywood liberalism, the moon landing hoax, abortion, hate crimes, communism, socialism, the theory of evolution, Islam and some more. It’s of course not hard to see what side Mr. Johnson takes.
His research is very detailed, and the booklet looks splendid, but maybe he should have spent more time on the music. Babylon Mystery Orchestra is basically gothic metal, performed by one person, and that’s where things get hairy. The grumbling vocals hardly ever vary, the pace is kept at mid-tempo throughout, making it rather hard to make it through the one hour long record. The songwriting is basically ok, some songs have really good moments although most of the time the artist is somewhat rumbling through his material, giving truly the impression that the message is much more important than the music. Even the occasional acoustic guitars don’t add much variety.
It’s obvious that Babylon Mystery Orchestra are far too right wing to find a fan base in Europe, where even conservative politicians would be considered too liberal by the likes of Sydney Allen Johnson. Not that he cares, because he’s been doing his thing uncompromisingly for the last eight years, and although I wouldn’t call myself a fan of his art, I am always again impressed by his truly hardliner vision. Musically, this lies somewhere between Type O Negative, Saviour Machine, The Sisters Of Mercy and Fields Of The Nephilim, with production values that make sure that Babylon Mystery Orchestra don’t reach the high quality of the aforementioned bands. It’s impossible to rate an album that entertains and irritates at the same time, so I recommend this to people on the lookout for something quite different.