{"id":30214,"date":"2013-06-17T08:13:32","date_gmt":"2013-06-17T13:13:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=30214"},"modified":"2014-02-08T08:36:17","modified_gmt":"2014-02-08T13:36:17","slug":"angels-of-babylon-thundergod-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2013\/angels-of-babylon-thundergod-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Angels Of Babylon | Thundergod<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Matt Karpe<\/span>
\n– Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"AngelsEx-Manowar drummer Rhino returns with Angels Of Babylon\u2019s follow-up to the 2010 release Kingdom Of Evil<\/em>.<\/p>\n

As well as showing his class on the drum kit, Rhino contributes all the vocals to Thundergod<\/em>, and he is joined by new recruits Alex Stephens on guitar and Jesse Ringo on bass. Together they have produced eleven tracks of \u201880s style speed and power metal whilst still making it sound modern and relevant.<\/p>\n

The album title track begins proceedings, with Rhino\u2019s thunderous drumming starting from the off whilst the verses he sings are like less strained Slayer; mildly chaotic mixed with nice harmony. Stephens\u2019 excellent debut guitar solo gives a good insight into why he was hired to play in AOB.<\/p>\n

\u201cSondrio\u201d is a symphonic metal epic. Great atmospherics and powerful reflective lyrics make this one of the standout songs on the album.<\/p>\n

The other show stealers are \u201cWhat Have You Become\u201d and \u201cTurning To Stone.\u201d Both are slow burners, ballads if you will. \u201cWhat Have You Become\u201d starts with a small solo from Stephens and then a delicate piano undertone controls the tempo as Rhino sings of a lost loved one. Chugging guitars dominate a chorus that doesn\u2019t quite live up to the excellent verses.<\/p>\n

\u201cTurning To Stone\u201d begins with some hypnotizing synth strings, and Rhino\u2019s elusive vocals captivate from the first word. It\u2019s like an \u201880s power ballad and as the song builds up to an emphatic ending, Stephens performs his best solo on the album, which makes this song that little more special. If you had to choose one- this is the best thing on Thundergod<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately the other songs on here fail to live up to expectation. There are too many fillers that don\u2019t really go anywhere. More often than not there is a sense of repetition, and with most tracks averaging four-and-a-half-minutes long, it\u2019s just too dragged out. On \u201cThe Enemy,\u201d there is a pointless inclusion of a snippet of recording taken from a Charles Manson interview, which leaves the listener scratching their head and asking why.<\/p>\n

Of course there are positives with Thundergod<\/em>. Alex Stephens is undoubtedly a great musician, and his guitar solos are an overwhelming success. Rhino\u2019s vocals are pretty strong and as usual his drumming is excellent, but all in all Thundergod<\/em> is a take it or leave it album.<\/p>\n

There probably won\u2019t be too many new fans gained here, but the diehards will most likely love it and respect it, which in its own way could be considered a successful return for Angels Of Babylon.<\/p>\n

Genre: Power Metal, Speed Metal<\/p>\n

Band:
\nRhino- Vocals\/Drums
\nAlex Stephens- Guitars
\nJesse Ringo- Bass<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1. Thundergod
\n2. Sondrio
\n3. Queen Warrior
\n4. What Have You Become
\n5. White Star Line
\n6. The Enemy
\n7. True Brothers
\n8. Redemption
\n9. King Of All Kings
\n10. Turning To Stone
\n11. Bullet<\/p>\n

Label: Scarlet Records<\/p>\n

Webpage: http:\/\/www.reverbnation.com\/rhinoangelsofbabylon<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven Rating: 6\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Matt Karpe – Columnist — Ex-Manowar drummer Rhino returns with Angels Of Babylon\u2019s follow-up to the 2010 release Kingdom Of Evil. As well as showing his class on the drum kit, Rhino contributes all […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":30216,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8704],"tags":[336,1097,334,827,1838,1099],"class_list":{"0":"post-30214","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2013","8":"tag-cd","9":"tag-power-metal","10":"tag-review","11":"tag-rhino","12":"tag-scarlet-records","13":"tag-speed-metal"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}