Lynch Mob
Rebel
Frontiers Music Srl
2015
“Rebel” is the seventh album by Lynch mob, which have managed to have a rather volatile membership over the past few years. This time its original vocalist Oni Logan, who’s been well preserved – one must admit and sounds quite fine on the album, George Lynch on guitars, obviously, the bassist that will probably play in your project, if you have one and all around cool guy Jeff Pilson, who’s an oft associate and Brian Tichy on drums, another guy who’s an excellent player and seems to be a choice for a variety of people in need of a good man behind the skins.
“Rebel” stylistically, is more or less what you’d expect from LM these days. Lynch’s guitar playing is inspiring, but the whole tone and the mid-tempo insistence that seems to be uninterrupted and only tinted with different atmospheres, tends to become a bit tiresome. However the tasteful performances and chemistry between the band members manage to make most of the songs to work, well enough… from the opening statement of “Automatic Fix” or “Between the Truth and a Lie” to the harder hitting and more political “Sanctuary”, to the sleazy marathon of “Jelly Roll”, to the condemnation of “Dirty Money” that seems to explore some Geoff Tate solo ideas in a far more tasteful manner, to the more dazed but not too confused “The Hollow Queen”, the songs flow maybe a little more viscous than you would have wanted them to but they do…
The band saves the best for last with the also lyrically strong “Kingdom of Slaves” and “War” the first slower and lazier with an extended instrumental part in the middle, where George gets down to business and the latter surprisingly quick paced for a closer again with Lynch firing on all six – strings that is… I could have seen a song like this opening the record, not closing it…?!
At any rate, fans of Lynch’s musical background wouldn’t go way wrong with “Rebel”, but while this is a contemporary snapshot and a quality piece of work, most old time fans won’t find it to be on par with the band’s earliest output…
“Rebel” stylistically, is more or less what you’d expect from LM these days. Lynch’s guitar playing is inspiring, but the whole tone and the mid-tempo insistence that seems to be uninterrupted and only tinted with different atmospheres, tends to become a bit tiresome. However the tasteful performances and chemistry between the band members manage to make most of the songs to work, well enough… from the opening statement of “Automatic Fix” or “Between the Truth and a Lie” to the harder hitting and more political “Sanctuary”, to the sleazy marathon of “Jelly Roll”, to the condemnation of “Dirty Money” that seems to explore some Geoff Tate solo ideas in a far more tasteful manner, to the more dazed but not too confused “The Hollow Queen”, the songs flow maybe a little more viscous than you would have wanted them to but they do…
The band saves the best for last with the also lyrically strong “Kingdom of Slaves” and “War” the first slower and lazier with an extended instrumental part in the middle, where George gets down to business and the latter surprisingly quick paced for a closer again with Lynch firing on all six – strings that is… I could have seen a song like this opening the record, not closing it…?!
At any rate, fans of Lynch’s musical background wouldn’t go way wrong with “Rebel”, but while this is a contemporary snapshot and a quality piece of work, most old time fans won’t find it to be on par with the band’s earliest output…