Billion Dollar Babies
Chemical God
Metalville
2016
Billion Dollar Babies are Swedes (what else) and they seem to go for a style of modern melodic gothic, sleazy roll, part 69 Eyes, part Hardcore Superstar, part “god knows what”.
You get the picture, shouty, punky 1-2 anthems with a bit more of pizazz than normal… actually not bad. I usually tend to dislike bands that have just a muffled, rounded, “modern” production, because no matter how good or loud it might be, it’s almost always about groove and compression/loudness and there’s very little substance in the way of the songs being actually catchy...
BDB’s “Chemical God” manages to have that “extra” bit of edge and magical fairy dust on the songs that take em away from the heap of MM wannabe superstars and puts them in a totally different light. “I Want to See You Burn” and the infectious “Everyone’s in Love with a Chemical God” will have you on your knees worshiping them… while “The Junkies Ball” is getting the decadent “vibe” quite well, sounding like a nightmarish version of “PSD”.
“One” isn’t a Metallica or U2 cover, but a shouty anthem that totally changes the game a bit to a somewhat more American sound, which the introspective “Why Don’t You Put Up a Fight” does brush of, but not absolutely wipe clean. Nice tune in a “Sweedcore” way.
“Election Day” (an intro) goes hand in hand with the Rob Zombie crossover “President Payne”, a fun danceable tune, I guess, you could stomp to.
“When the Light Goes Out” has a nightmarish vibe, but to be honest, it gets a bit repetitive…
“The Nightmare Began” has a spooky acoustic intro, and it ends up being a sleaze power ballad in an interesting twist.
“The Man I Am” is half the man it thinks it is, being in line with the rest of the material and having a couple of moments, but ultimately being quite disappointing.
Lastly, on “House of Dreams”, the band tries to go a bit musical/horror story, Voltaire meets Alice Cooper in a Swedish dive. While it ain’t bad, it’s not something all boys and ghouls would necessarily lose their heads about...
A fun band and a quite solid offering, I’d be interesting to hear more from themselves…
You get the picture, shouty, punky 1-2 anthems with a bit more of pizazz than normal… actually not bad. I usually tend to dislike bands that have just a muffled, rounded, “modern” production, because no matter how good or loud it might be, it’s almost always about groove and compression/loudness and there’s very little substance in the way of the songs being actually catchy...
BDB’s “Chemical God” manages to have that “extra” bit of edge and magical fairy dust on the songs that take em away from the heap of MM wannabe superstars and puts them in a totally different light. “I Want to See You Burn” and the infectious “Everyone’s in Love with a Chemical God” will have you on your knees worshiping them… while “The Junkies Ball” is getting the decadent “vibe” quite well, sounding like a nightmarish version of “PSD”.
“One” isn’t a Metallica or U2 cover, but a shouty anthem that totally changes the game a bit to a somewhat more American sound, which the introspective “Why Don’t You Put Up a Fight” does brush of, but not absolutely wipe clean. Nice tune in a “Sweedcore” way.
“Election Day” (an intro) goes hand in hand with the Rob Zombie crossover “President Payne”, a fun danceable tune, I guess, you could stomp to.
“When the Light Goes Out” has a nightmarish vibe, but to be honest, it gets a bit repetitive…
“The Nightmare Began” has a spooky acoustic intro, and it ends up being a sleaze power ballad in an interesting twist.
“The Man I Am” is half the man it thinks it is, being in line with the rest of the material and having a couple of moments, but ultimately being quite disappointing.
Lastly, on “House of Dreams”, the band tries to go a bit musical/horror story, Voltaire meets Alice Cooper in a Swedish dive. While it ain’t bad, it’s not something all boys and ghouls would necessarily lose their heads about...
A fun band and a quite solid offering, I’d be interesting to hear more from themselves…