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Whores of Babylon CD Reviews |
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The Whores of Babylon |
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Soundisciples |
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The Whores of Babylon
Noiselab |
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Drunken Pirates |
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| Gobz from the Whores of
Babylon-Soundisciples & Noiselab sent Bristol Rocks a DVD containing
five albums released between the early90's and 2007. That is an
awful lot of music to review, so I will attempt to give you an
overall feel for the type, style and quality of each of these
musical projects. It is also interesting to note the musical
progression based on the introduction of new technology over the
years that the albums were released. |
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| All of the music was created at Gobz
State of the Art Studio (SOA) in Bristol. |
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| The first album chronologically is
Metropolis, released in 1994 with Gobz playing all instruments,
Shaun Atkins on vocals and a few others helping out. |
| Metropolis is the most guitar orientated album of
the collection. This album has an introduction to the sampling &
synth style that is built upon in the albums that follow. Some
instrumental songs give an interesting contrast to the others that
are more guitar based metal. Even on this early album the songs are
complex & thoughtful with some great dark lyrics delivered just as
they should be by Shaun. |
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| The second album was released in 1996
with The Whores of Babylon still consisting of Gobz playing all
instruments, Shaun Atkins singing and a couple of other musical
collaborators.. |
| Kumari is the Whores second album and is a dark and
curious fusion of metal & synth music. The recording quality and
production of this album, as with all of the albums is faultless.
The songs are moody, dark and edgy in a kind of Nirvana/Black
Sabbath lovechild way. Having said that, I haven't heard anything
that has a similar texture to this album and that makes it unique
and rather special. There are some brilliant synth instrumental
arrangements that in theory should conflict with the style of the
other songs, but they don't, they just add to the atmosphere.
Clever! |
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| In 1999, Gobz and Joe White on guitars
released the Soundisciples album 'Undefined, |
| Between 1996 and 1999, Gobz discovered samplers and
this album makes very good use of this technology. Soundisciples
music could be described as techno-metal maybe? With fast drum and
bass samples woven with synth and metal guitar topped with a
sprinkling of samples. As with the last album there are some
pleasing surprises that make the project unique, Chaos in Motion is
one such track, very good. |
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| The product of the noiselab project was
released in the year 2000. Again most things musical are taken care
of by Gobz with vocal input from Shaun as well as Gizz Butt & MC
Kellogs. |
| The Noiselab project shows a certain maturity and
the technology improvement is audible in the mix. Sampling and
looping has been used to create the best songs yet. Bringing more
techno into the metal rock environment, the music still has a raw
edge despite its concession to modern music trends. 'Laughing at the
warning' even uses a touch of rap which is a departure from the
previous style. |
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| Soundisciples latest album Audio
manifesto sees Joe White on Guitars bass & synth collaborating with Shaun @kins
on Vocals, Rob Vaughn on Bass, Ian Matthews on
Drums and Nick Green manipulating samples and cuts. |
| Audio Manifesto as you would expect because of the
other musicians involved, is a departure from all of the other albums.
'Daze of Grace' especially is very unlike any of the previous techno
metal material that Gobz has produced. As such it cannot really be
grouped with the previous stuff. This is my equal favourite along
with The Noiselab project. This album offers a diversity of music
style. While still retaining some of techno metal rawness of
Metropolis in tracks like 'Tongues' alternatively 'Angels Kiss' is pure
techno. |
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The nod towards technology and current
musical trends is clearly evident in this series of work. All of the
albums are satisfying in their own way and each is extremely
accomplished. The latest offering from Gobz is 'The Eyeball song'
from his new project, 'The Drunken Pirates' which you can listen to
here.
Too much of the hard stuff Gobz? |
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