If it wasn’t for Don Dokken and George Lynch taking chunks out of each other’s ankles, then the chances are you wouldn’t of seen a Lynch Mob. The two focal points of ’80s rock players Dokken went their separate ways after their famously tense working relationship reached boiling point and hit the skids in 1989.
Lynch Mob – Babylon (Frontiers Music Srl)
Release Date: 20 October 2023
Words: Brian Boyle
As a result, Lynch Mob was swiftly founded, and the renowned axeman set about grabbing a slice of the action from the dying embers of the once-all-conquering genre.
“There’s been so many iterations of Lynch Mob since the first line-up in 1989 of Oni Logan, Mick Brown, Anthony Esposito, and myself,” George told us. “Putting Lynch Mob together was just an extension of what I’d always strived for in a band: the best possible musicians, chemistry, and brotherhood.
“My bands have not only been my best friends but also family. When we come up together and work hard and struggle together, we create a bond that lasts a lifetime. I think that’s the thing I love the most about my musical journey: creating music in the studio, stepping on stage, and sharing that bond with my friends through music. Thank you to everyone who has been in my band. I really feel it’s ours.”
Though, despite being far from a household name, Babylon is Lynch Mob’s eighth studio album and heralds the debut of singer Gabriel Colon. Erase opens up the Puerto Rican’s account in style, a near on six-minute slab of hypnotic riffs and dark melodies.
There are comparisons to a classic Van Halen here and there. I’m Ready is way too close to the border of Panama with that jabbing riff, but it’s still a banger nonetheless.
Send it back a few decades, and Time After Time would have sounded just as punchy with Diamond Dave let loose on it. But we all know George Lynch is no copycat and most definitely not a show-off.
Tracks with the Metal fury of How You Fall and the mammoth balladry of Million Miles Away are all about the song first and foremost, with the 69-year-old axe wielder applying short and sufficient blasts of wizardry.
And nor has he attempted to trade on the past with a low-fat version of Dokken. Fire Master and The Synner lean more towards improvised Classic Metal rather than the cock rock variety.
Lynch Mob’s latest opus won’t alter the course of music history, but that doesn’t stop it from being an honest and thoroughbred of a rock album.
Lynch Mob’s Babylon is available from here.
Lynch Mob – Babylon
- Erase
- Time After Time
- Caught Up
- I’m Ready
- How You Fall
- Million Miles Away
- Let It Go
- Fire Master
- The Synner
- Babylon
