Stolen Babies
Naught

We had left them six years ago, at their debut (in my first review as I ventured incautiously into the magical world of DeBaser®), which skillfully mixed various musical styles over a metal base, resulting in a fresh and surprising debut, capable of reminding us—within reasonable proportions, of course—of a light version of Mr. Bungle in a Burtonian sauce. The group then more or less disappeared from the radar for more than a five-year period, making only some sporadic appearances at scattered festivals in the States, to the point where I had lost all hope regarding the continuation of this interesting group's adventure.

In 2012 however, here comes a new album (furthermore printed, at least the last time I checked, only overseas), but given the long time passed, the doubts were greater than the expectations. Six years is indeed a period that few bands can afford, and in such cases, one really needs to come up with an excellent record (like Tool, to be clear, although there too for the new release, repeatedly postponed, I am quite skeptical), and already the truly horrible cover certainly did not help to reassure me. But since behind my cynical facade, there's actually a heart full of humanism and latent optimism/naivety, I risked a listen anyway, finding that in the end, more or less, the band still sounds like before. There's still the versatile voice of the beautiful Persi and the mix of styles over a metal base, and the album can be listened to until the end without major setbacks; it's a pity though that it all feels heard already and that the genuineness of the past is no longer perceived. In short, if maybe a photocopy album, slightly faded, but overall enjoyable, was acceptable if released in a short time, after all this time it was reasonable to expect much more, and my fear is that, unless there is a new release (within humanly acceptable times) that revitalizes their quotations, the debut is destined to remain an isolated episode.

A promise half-kept in short, a pity because the starting points really left much room for hope.