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Rating: Released in 2006 by the label "The End Records," which specializes in offering eclectic and avant-garde metal, the CD "There Be Squabbles Ahead" is the debut album of "Stolen Babies," a band from Los Angeles. The band (born from the ashes of "The Fratellis," a dark-punk-cabaret group) self-defines their genre as "Prog-Pop-Cabaret-Thrash-Quirky-Goth-Rock," which gives an idea of how difficult it is to confine the group's offering within a predefined genre (they might partly be compared to "Mr. Bungle").
Despite the hard matrix of a significant part of the tracks, the album deserves to be listened to even by those who are not usually attracted to certain sounds, given the great variety of styles and genres present within each single track. The singer and frontwoman Dominique Lenore Persi moves effortlessly from whispered parts to growl, showcasing excellent vocal skills, and the rest of the group (notably Gil Sharone of "The Dillinger Escape Plan" on drums) is just as capable, providing all necessary support using instruments ranging from the more traditional guitar to the violin, harp, trumpet, and similar.
The album begins with "Spill", certainly one of the heaviest tracks, featuring bells, organ, and growl, but even from this first track, one gets an idea of the genius-madness combination that will characterize the whole work. In the subsequent tracks, one can identify cabaret-variety sounds ("Filistata"), wave-punk-rock ("A Year Of Judges") or even gothic ("So Close") and even some hints of thrash ("Mind Your Eyes"). All the while maintaining a high quality across all thirteen tracks, with no drop in tone and making it unlikely that you will feel the need to skip a song. Another virtue of this CD is that it is catchy from the first listen, but even over time, it does not risk becoming monotonous, as one always ends up discovering some aspect that had not been noticed before.
Considering that this is their debut work, the band definitely deserves to be followed, hoping that any subsequent album will be a worthy successor to the first.
Highly recommended to everyone, especially to those who think metal only means noise and screams!
P.S.: this is my first review, I am open to (constructive!) criticism and advice!
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
03 Filistata (03:17)
Crawling all over, behind ears and behind words
When you are alone and you're not one of the boys and girls
You fall out of your web, dancing on a crooked ledge
You're falling of the edge
Is someone going to end up dead?
There is no cure
I am my only curse
No way (I'm sure) to get this spell reversed
The Filistata crawling all over my head
It's like I always caught up, safe in the messiest of webs
But when it falls out (and like my mind falls out of me)
It's hard to get back in
It's hard to regain sanity
Up on a cliff doing the dance
What happens if I lose balance?
Constantly creeping away from people and from noise
While everyone's sleeping I'm scared to death
It's not my choice
There's a web inside me, behind my eyes, it pounds and pounds
There sits Filistata
It's growing there but makes no sound
There is no pain
Just hate and empty tears
Blind, hollow eyes and webs over the ears
And in the end will I have wasted years?
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By Montorsino
The voice of the fascinating Dominique Lenore Persi is perdition: to transition with enviable ease from a clean, playful, and sexy-toned voice to a completely schizoid and piercing scream is not something everyone can do.
The Stolen Babies and their multifaceted diversions have given me hours and hours of absolute fun and entertainment, surely thanks also to their 'circus' attitude.
