REVIEW: LYNCH MOB Returns with “Babylon” On Frontiers Records

One thing you can count on with anything guitarist George Lynch is involved with, you’re going to hear a clinic on what you can do with six strings.  Once again he makes it seem effortless on LYNCH MOB’S latest album “Babylon”.

I remember visiting a music store when I was a teenager and somehow I found myself in a conversation with the local guitar God “Kenny”. He brought up George Lynch and said that the stuff you heard on Dokken albums was “easy” for him to play. I guess his point was that as complicated as his solos sounded, he can do even more difficult stuff that would blow your mind.

Lynch isn’t trying to get super complicated on “Babylon” he’s more playing with tones and experimenting to some degree. He still makes everything sound so easy and effortless.  Ironically the guitars are not overpowering in the mix either, he seems content to let everyone shine as this is more of a “band” album than a group of players built around a guitarist.

LYNCH MOB has a new signer in Gabriel Colón that took some getting used to. He’s got a little bit of the nasal resonance of Axl Rose and is quite a bit different than Oni Logan and Robert Mason. I have to admit that his voice distracted me at first, mostly because I’ve been a fan of the band since day one and tend to be hyper-critical versus just blindly loving everything they do.

I’m certainly aware of budget restraints and the difference between recording in the late 80’s versus now. Let’s just say the industry peaked in the early 90’s and it’s become digital and oversaturated since then. Having said that, LYNCH MOB has put out a quality product worthy of hearing, especially if you’re a fan of Lynch.

Since we hold the standard to that era still to this day, I would say that “Babylon” is closer to their 1992 self-titled album. There’s a lot of songs on this on in the vein of “Tangled In You Web”, with that laid back and smooth groove that Lynch Mob is known for.

Personally, I’m glad that George Lynch decided to keep the moniker LYNCH MOB after temporarily dropping the name due to the politically correct atmosphere we’ve had lately.  Lynch is the hardest working guy out there too, it seems he has several projects out a year, sometimes bleeding over one another. It’s the nature of the beast, perhaps we’d be happy with one album every year or so that had a big 80’s budget but it’s not in the card. Instead we hear his work on a more regular basis and it’s probably more true to who Lynch is as a guitarist.

George Lynch
vocalist Gabriel Colón
bassist Jaron Gulino (Tantric, Heavens Edge)
drummer Jimmy D’anda (ex-Bulletboys).