Nimrod – ‘Return To Babylon’ Album Review

Nimrod would be forgiven for thinking that we at SonicAbuse really don’t like them. This album has been slated for review for almost four months but problems with the sending of the file left us without a copy until very recently meaning that this is the first time we’ve had a chance to sample their album ‘return to Babylon’ which is a shame because it’s really very good indeed.

Of course, the band haven’t really done themselves many favours by naming themselves Nimrod. Now normally I wouldn’t even mention a band name but when you saddle yourself with unfortunate links to a particularly poor Green Day album you really are asking for trouble. Nonetheless get past the unfortunate moniker and you’ll find some storming metal of the very highest order which references Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and, most surprisingly, Therion with its raging riffs, pounding rhythms and operatic vocals. As a result first track ‘night of the witches’ is not only an awesome blast of passionate, talented metal, it’s also something of a bolt from the blue. Massed vocals, operatic choruses and searing solos all play their part and it is a pleasure to discover that Nimrod deal in a brand of metal which is quite inspirational as the harmonised solos on second track ‘I am’ will also tell you. Vocally the band are more than up to the task of wandering in the same territory as Therion with the most astounding revelation being that all the voices are provided by one singer (Erico “la Bestia” Morales), a fact as shocking as it is impressive.

Having built up a decent head of steam with two outstanding tracks, the band reign things in for the atmospheric, albeit brief title track before letting all hell loose once more with the vicious, tremolo-arm-abusing ‘broken wings’ which has a galloping rhythm that is impossible to ignore and yet more vocal exertions from a man who is clearly a prodigious talent of the highest order. Combining the vocal talents of Rob Halford, Snowy Shaw, Matts Levin and James Hetfield all within one body is no mean feat and the fact that he successfully pulls off the trick of sounding like at least three utterly distinct voices within one song is simply remarkable. Meanwhile, and I have perhaps neglected my praise in this area, the musicians within the band, Chris Era and JP Donoso, are more than up to the task of providing a fantastic musical back-drop for their frontman with huge chugging riffs, blistering solos and excellent percussion all imbuing the tracks with a dark metal grandeur that owes as much to the high-theatre of Judas Priest’s more recent output as it does to the political rage of Iron Maiden and expressive, classical metal exertions of Therion but with a unique feel that is all Nimrod’s own. In short this is a remarkable album created by musicians of the very highest calibre and anyone who claims to be a fan of the wonderful genre we call metal should be proud to add this to their collection.  Meanwhile the CD rages on and ‘ready to burn’ adds a vaguely Eastern feel to its chord progressions and solo while the vocals continue to be absurdly memorable and delivered with passion and skill.

A darker sound emerges with the emotive ‘death behind’ which is a heavy, pounding track that comes in on a crushing riff and sees Chris adding multiple bruising solos in the final closing minutes. More impressive, however, is the vaguely progressive ‘betrayed of the soul’ which opens with a gently phased guitar and introductory solo and betrays a sensitive side to the band that is part Maiden, part Queensryche, lyrically interesting and vocally excellent while a stunning harmonised solo is the icing on the cake. ‘Time of changes’ sees the band step up a gear once more with some heavy, Slayer-esque riffing and hard-hitting drumming and it proves to be the album’s heaviest, darkest track by far with Erico intoning “let me tell you a story…” with the fever a man who must tell his tale or expire in the process. ‘Dark land’ continues in the heavier vein of ‘time of changes’ with Erico’s vocals reigned in to a great extent on the verse to the point that it sounds almost black metal rather than the more traditional metal / operatic approach of the rest of the album. Final track (following a brief segue) is the pure metal fury of ‘Nimrod’ which features a wealth of amazing musicianship, dive-bombs, rampant solos and a degree of technicality from Chris that sees you utilising a calculator just to keep up with him.

Nimrod, then, have created an album that is never less than impressive. The influences here, from old school death metal to traditional metal and symphonic metal are all cleverly combined to create something unique to Nimrod and while a strong vein of Therion runs through many of the songs, not least because of the operatic feel, Nimrod are certainly a much heavier prospect with the guitars pumped to the max and pushed to the fore. The fact that only three musicians created this much noise is also to be commended and the whole thing is combined with a beautiful, honest love of the music that the band are making – an enthusiasm that is infectious and inspirational and which makes you want to return to the album time and again. Nimrod have made a record that I am proud to have reviewed and that any committed metal fan would be proud to own – it’s time indeed to ‘return to Babylon’ – this is stirring stuff.