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I. Those who favored POINIUM CHEREM with positive reviews... |
BABYLON MYSTERY ORCHESTRA is a band… Well, yes I guess if we see things superficially this is the only thing we can see and say, but if we dig a little deeper, we’ll see that it’s more than that. For me personally BABYLON MYSTERY ORCHESTRA is an art form, an artistic statement on its own, it’s a band that always produces thought provoking albums that stay in my mind and trouble me for a long time. This latest musical endeavour, which is in fact the band’s sixth full length work, is once again a concept story and a very interesting one I might add. You see it describes various aspects of our society, issues that concern us all more or less, but it gives it all in a clever way with lots of liner notes and quotations of famous people in order to make its point clearer and more obvious. Sidney Allen Johnson, the man behind this band, who is responsible for everything… for the compositions, to their arrangements and their performance, has conceived an interesting notion… We’re on earth somewhere around 3000 AD and some people stumble upon this music, which is the dying word of a dying civilization, so people from the future get to learn the facts of our era and what led to its demise. I’m not going to say anything more since I think this is something all of you should check out for yourselves and make your own decisions. However, BABYLON MYSTERY ORCHESTRA is a band and I haven’t yet said a thing about the music… Well, the music here, I think, has more of a supporting role, trying to underline and accentuate the messages and it could be described as heavy metal with a dark atmosphere and some gothic touches that make the end result sound more eerie and mysterious. So, what I’m trying to say here is that “Poinium Cherem” has a special value, it stands on its own, so it’s beyond ratings and stuff like that. It’s an experience we should all have regardless whether we agree with the ideas expressed here or not. If we want to be open minded and have a complete opinion about a topic, we have to take into consideration all the viewpoints displayed. “Poinium Cherem” is surely food for thought! Christine Parastatidou |
Angelic Warlord (click to read) |
Music Street Journal (click to read) |
The Metal Resource (click to read) |
Mourning the Ancient: Poinium Cherem [self-produced ©2012] Now here is a strange one. But first, the details. Hailing from The United States-Alabama to be precise, comes the one man band of Babylon Mystery Orchestra, done by a guy named Sidney Allen Johnson. The creator of this is a very angry Christian who has a bone to pick with planet Earth! I know this sounds funny, and ironic, but if Christians really believed what they professed they would all be angry like our Sidney here. But first, what does it sound like? Well, kind of a metal sound, with melodic guitars, but harshly spoken vocals, or perhaps narration would be a better word. It is full of angry biblical quotations and political and sociological protest. Much of the themes explored here any intelligent person could agree with. Topics like anti-Communism, government oppression, dwindling personal freedoms, modern man's stupendous ego and the celebration of homo this and homo that. In today's diseased society criticizing these topics is taboo and controversial. I can't imagine many Christians enjoy the works of Babylon Mystery Orchestra, many of them would probably be terrified of it in fact. Not just of the harsh vocal style and heavy music, but mostly of one of their own coming out and having the balls to speak out against this decaying world. |
Pavillon 666 (click to read; page is translatable from the original French) |
Lords of Metal (click to read) |
II. Not everyone sees things the same. Here is a selection of negative reviews... |
Sea of Tranquility (click to read) Not so bad. They usually like them better, though. |
Disagreement Online (click to read) Hmm... detestable lyrics??? |