Backyard Babies
Total 13

THE REVIEW

The year was 1998, when 4 Swedish guys released an album that made history in the Scandinavian Rock scene: "Total 13". 13 (seems obvious to me) tracks, for 40 minutes of music, where the Backyard Babies lay out all their style and aggression, making this album a true MUST of the '90s.

It starts with "Made Me Madman", which leaves no room for first impressions: this album came out with a different mindset and premises compared to the debut "Diesel & Power", a Glam album with different merits. Dregen's guitar accompanies almost the entire first song, and together with Borg's vocals they manage to give the album a Rock 'n Roll sound but with a pinch of Punk and Glam. Well, I’d say a winning combination judging by the album... We move on to the second song, "U. F. O. Romeo", a true explosion of punk 'n roll, where the vocalist, with unexceptional capabilities, naturally manages to accentuate the band's hard spirit, with a fast and never out of place singing (unlike, alas, many bands do these days). The third track is perhaps the song that was most successful among the best of the BYB, namely "Highlights", a slow (but not too much) song with an atmosphere that even they, in following albums, couldn't recreate. The initial riff makes it clear it's not a heart-stopping song like the previous two, but every element of this track appears aggressive, right, and at the same time graceful... worth a listen. The fourth track, "Get Dead", does not represent one of the masterpieces of this album, even if, as anyone like me who has this album can confirm, there are no bad songs or randomly added pieces. Overall, we find first and second guitars very in sync, with Dregen filling every stanza with his indispensable solos. Here comes "Look At You", the first single and flagship song of the album (at least according to the success of the single), catchy, fast, powerful, and almost perfect in its all-too-few 2 minutes and 44 seconds.

Next is "Let's Go To Hell", another of the fastest and catchiest songs, with drums setting a particularly successful rhythm; "Spotlight The Sun" certainly doesn't drop in terms of quality, with a fitting chorus accompanying the refrain: successful. "Balled" represents the second "calm" song of these 13 pearls of Scandinavian rock, while arriving at track no. 9, we find my favorite: "Ghetto You". Fast? Very. The involvement created by this song is swift, the riff and singing aim to grab the listener, succeeding, along with choruses and solos that seem expected in their perfection but in the end, it's clear that creating such immediate songs, difficult in their simplicity, is no small feat. "Subculture Hero" follows, which doesn't stray from the canons of previous songs, while a separate discussion should be made for the last three songs. "Bombed (out of my mind)", "Hey I'm Sorry", and "Robber Of Life" are three gems, original, ROCK, fast, and will surely make you sing along, lyrics in hand!

A final note for the last track, which stands out as one of the best pieces of the album, along with "Highlights" "Look At You" and "Ghetto You". But can we talk about better pieces when this album has been in the stereo for almost a month without ever needing to skip a song?? No, I don't think so. I hope I have explained myself well in this review, but I believe that by listening to "Total 13" you will understand for yourselves, rock masterpieces speak for themselves.