Label: No Comment Records
Review by Davide Torresan
I really don’t like this season. Well, I think I truly hate summer. This heat makes me insane and, to contribute to this coma there is also the 2nd studio album of Stolen Babies, “Naught”. I mean, I’m not saying that I didn’t like it. The sound of this American trio of musicians composed by Dominique, Rani and Gil is an avantgarde rock/metal with a lot of experimentations. There are so many influences that they stun the listener, leading him into a hypnotic vortex from which it is impossible to escape. For me it is even hard to decide if it is weirder the “Naught”‘s cover with its cartoon smiling houses, flowers, the sun and a strange pink sheep or its content. They call it madness, but the risk to do a hotchpotch with too many things was behind the corner. Stolen Babies solved it with some melodic refrains that will be stuck in your head for hours. Compared to the previous “There Be Squabbles Ahead” the songs are less long, but the will to experiment both with the voices and the instruments stayed the same.
Dominique made me crazy with her continuous vocal changes. From a pop and sugary style she’s able to do a screaming part worth of a death metal band. From the musical point of view, to give you an idea, “Naught” could be the perfect background music during the reading of a book like “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”. When you feel like you understood Stolen Babies, they will surprise you with a sort of cabaret metal. I sincerely hope that you like the sound of accordion, violins, little choruses and a little bit of industrial rock, gothic metal and electronica (listen to “I Woke Up”), because you have to deal with all this stuff. “Naught”‘s mood is really schizophrenic with some delirious moments, like in “Birthday Song” or “Mousefood”, and the dark cabaret of “Grubbery (Burnt to a Crisp)”. I am sure that you could appreciate the theatrical touch and, why not, burlesque humor that these skilled musicians created.
Rating – 82/100
Tracklist
- Behind the Days
- Birthday Song
- Civil Disguise
- Don’t Know
- Dried Moat
- Grubbery (Burnt to a Crisp)
- I Woke Up
- Lifeless (Again)
- Mousefood
- Never Come Back
- Prankster
Line Up
- Dominique Lenore Persi – Lead vocals & accordion
- Rani Sharone – Bass guitar, double bass, guitar & backing vocals
- Gil Sharone – Drums
Links