Customer Reviews

Kyrie

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Had Babylon Sad known beforehand that Kyrie, their sole full-length, would be condemned to obscurity, would they have made it, regardless? One can only wonder. Considering that my own answer to that query would be "no", I'm feeling fervently fine feathered about Babylon Sad's personnel lacking any such clairvoyancy. Indeed, the gift of foresight is also, perhaps doubly so, a curse.

Kyrie is, simply put, the most atmospheric death metal of the Swiss variety that I've yet encountered. One of the album's high points, a tour de force called "Pictures of Paradise", conjures images of pre-Christian mythology. From Ninurta of Sumer to Simorgh of Persia to Gozer of Ghostbusters, Babylon Sad has got your preferred ancient deity covered. The atmosphere comes at a price, unfortunately. While it is my belief that Kyrie's songs were plenty ethereal on their own, Babylon Sad seems to have found it necessary to plague their recording with interruptive, interjectory instrumental interludes, none of which I feel succeed in serving as succor to the omneity. A shame is what it is, as the interludes really bring down my enjoyment of the album as a whole.

With musicianship aplenty, Babylon Sad's edifice comes courtesy of colossal guitar riffs and ululating solos, those perhaps keening enough to pass as mimicry of a siren's beckon. The growls are very well done, being both deep and powerful, although they're a little too clear and understandable for my tastes. Far be it from me to oppose the very idea of modern music, but I prefer death metal vocals to act as a percussive instrument rather than as a vehicle to deliver lyrics. However, the clean passages and spoken word segments are very creepy. Everything else is musically sound, with occasional keyboard usage that proves quite effective.

Today, Kyrie's tenebrific status may be a disappointment to Babylon Sad, but to us metalheads, it's a sanctity. Whereas an esoteric-yet-sought-after record like, say, Demigod's Slumber of Sullen Eyes commands outrageous prices among collectors, this album is being sold dirt cheap. The bottom line is, this is good, classic death metal, and it ill makes sense to forego picking up a copy.