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Review & Full Album Stream: Lord Fowl, Glorious Babylon

Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on April 22nd, 2020 by JJ Koczan

Lord Fowl Glorious Babylon

[Click play above to stream Lord Fowl’s Glorious Babylon in full. Album is out this Friday, April 24, on Small Stone Records.]

Connecticut-based four-piece Lord Fowl were already well underrated in 2012 when they released their second album, Moon Queen (review here), as their debut on Small Stone Records. They played regionally throughout the Northeast to support it and did label showcases and heavy fests hither and yon, but it’s been eight years since that record came out and their third offering, Glorious Babylon, inevitably finds them in different circumstances as a unit. Recorded as ever by bassist/some-guitar-ist Jon Conine at BirdsEye Studios in West Haven, CT, with Steve Hill assisting, the 10-track/37-minute full-length almost can’t help but reflect the times in which it has been made. There is an undercurrent of cynicism or perhaps just warning in the early-arriving title-track that is very much in Lord Fowl‘s wheelhouse, and even as side A moves beyond its opening salvo of “Fire Discipline,” “Glorious Babylon” and “Get Lost” into the slower and moodier “Deep Empty” and “The Wraith,” their sense of having a party like it’s 1977 comes tinged with this aspect. We all know how it worked out for Babylon, right? It fell. Hard.

Driven by the dual guitars and lead-vocal tradeoffs between Vechel Jaynes and Mike Pellegrino and with Michael Petrucci on drums — since out of the band to, as legend has it, wander the earth as a journeyman percussive wizard, spreading rhythmic joy wherever he goes; Van Hartley has taken up the position — Lord Fowl traffic between classic heavy rock and nascent NWOBHM-ism, but their sound is never overly aggressive, even in the sharper turns of a cut like “The Gramercy Riffs,” and their craft lends itself to standout hooks and a ’70s vibe, but Conine‘s production is never anything but modern. This was a turn Lord Fowl were ahead of the curve in making circa Moon Queen, predicting that the retroism that was so prevalent throughout the early part of the last decade (and of which there’s still plenty around today) would soon enough have to go somewhere and the only place to go was the forward in time. It continues to suit them on Glorious Babylon, the studio presentation of the band working toward capturing the energy they bring to the stage and the clarity of their songwriting generally. Glorious Babylon is a record rife with fascinating contradictions, but just as its take-then-and-make-it-now ethic finds them spanning decades with ease, so too do their songs come together with a full LP flow despite their seeming contrasts.

To wit, Glorious Babylon brings some of the rawest and most immediate moments of heavy rock that Lord Fowl have honed since their 2008 debut, Endless Dynamite, and in songs like “Fire Discipline” — I’m not sure what it means to “walk a hot wire,” but the instruction to do so is delivered with authority — “Glorious Babylon” itself, side B’s fuzzy leadoff “In Search Of” and the bounce-via-ThinLizzy penultimate track “Epitaph,” they give a look not only at the prevalence of their own dynamic in what they do in terms of the fluidity of rhythm between Conine‘s bass, the two guitars and Petrucci‘s drumming, but also the sheer effectiveness of verses and choruses when so well composed. Of course the chemistry between Jaynes and Pellegrino — who seem to come together throughout as much as they pull apart at times, broadening the scope of the band’s material overall — plays a central role in defining the personality of Glorious Babylon to the extent that it’s willing to be defined, and while that plays out over the more barebones structures, it’s also to be found in the more expansive songs as well, the scope of cuts like “The Wraith” and even the mini-freakout in “Red Cloud” or the if-Bowie-went-psych finale “Space Jockey” push to places Lord Fowl haven’t been before.

Lord Fowl (photo by Meg Herlihy)

All the while, this blend of immediacy and patience plays out across songs that, in themselves, play up and down in mood and atmosphere across the record’s still-relatively-brief span. This is something perhaps best given emphasis in the title-track itself. “Glorious Babylon” is a fun song about impending tragedy. Lord Fowl wouldn’t be the first to compare present-America to the ancient Babylonian empire, and likewise, it’s not the first time they’ve injected a subtle political edge into their material. Frankly, it’s something one wishes they did more of — though one also wishes for more from them generally, so take that as you will — but as much “Fire Discipline” and “Epitaph” swagger, so too does “Deep Empty” roll through its chorus following the spoken intro en route to the culminating solo, and “Red Cloud” makes its way to its noisy finish with the most insistent shove the band has on offer throughout, furthering the spread between basic stage-style energy and more meditative themes and tempos.

What the hell does it all mean?

It means Lord Fowl are a more complex band than they were eight years ago. They’re a band who do more than one thing with their songs, a band who sound like they’re bringing together the work of multiple songwriters, and a band who nonetheless emerge with a cohesive album flow despite — and in some ways because — of that. While Glorious Babylon is bound to win nods among the heavy rock converted with its forward hooks and more upbeat material, the record also invites further digging as each of its two intended sides develops its own progression, with side B returning to ground in “Epitaph” before “Space Jockey” further transcends genre boundaries. As a result of its multifaceted nature and the fact that it has more than just those forward hooks to take on, it may be a few listens before Glorious Babylon completely unfolds itself to a given listener, but again, that invitation is there, and Lord Fowl provide sure guidance for their audience making its way through. They were underrated eight years ago. Well, they’re still underrated. Whatever the future might hold for the band, in style and substance, they are a well kept secret of the Northeastern heavy rock underground, and whether you’re taking them on for the boogie and fuzz or the broader territories their songs can reach, Babylon’s glories are there for the getting while the getting’s good.

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Lord Fowl to Release Glorious Babylon April 24; Preorders Available & Track Posted

Posted in Whathaveyou on February 18th, 2020 by JJ Koczan

Lord Fowl (photo by Meg Herlihy)

It hasn’t been easy waiting for Connecticut four-piece Lord Fowl to put out a new full-length. At this point, it’s been eight years since Small Stone released Moon Queen (review here), and at least five since they started talking about writing and recording what’s been given the title Glorious Babylon. So yes, facing the hard reality that a set April 24 release date and the advent of preorders represent is something of a relief. And not that I’ve heard the record or anything — though to that end I’ll say that I did do a heavy edit on the bio below ahead of this news coming out — but whatever the hell is going on with the album art is earned in the tracks. It’s all that stuff and the logo to boot. I know it’s been a while and momentum or social media push isn’t really in their pocket out of the gate, but don’t sleep it.

Glorious Babylon. April 24. Small Stone. Preorders up. You can hear “Fire Discipline” now, so do that below.

Fresh from the PR wire:

Lord Fowl Glorious Babylon

LORD FOWL: Connecticut Riff Rock/Retro Metallers To Release Glorious Babylon Full-Length April 24th Via Small Stone; New Track Streaming + Preorders Available

Connecticut riff rock/retro metal unit LORD FOWL will release their Glorious Babylon full-length April 24th via Small Stone.

LORD FOWL took shape in New Haven in the summer of 2007 with one goal: to write songs like those they grew up hearing. Songs that drive you. Songs that come alive. Songs that rock. With Glorious Babylon, their third LP and second to see release via Small Stone Records, LORD FOWL refuses to compromise this high standard, bringing forth the energy of their dynamic stage presence and dual lead vocals, as the song-craft of singer/guitarists Vechel Jaynes and Mike Pellegrino reaches its next level of progression.

Recorded at BirdsEye Studios in West Haven, producer and bassist Jon Conine (with the assistance of by Steve Hill) captures LORD FOWL’s vitality as only one part of the fray could hope to do, and though drummer Michael Petrucci has since left the band with Van Hartley stepping in to fill his significant percussive shoes, the drums provide the foundation of Glorious Babylon.

Across the record’s ten-track/thirty-seven-minute span, LORD FOWL raises their own bar. Following 2008’s Endless Dynamite and 2012’s Moon Queen, Glorious Babylon arrives as an awaited third chapter in LORD FOWL’s peculiar mythology, harnessing the spirit they’ve brought to stages up and down the East Coast, at SXSW, and beyond, breathing life once more into classic, soulful, and psychedelic heavy rock and roll.

With a sound just as likely to nod to Thin Lizzy and a heavy Funkadelic as to early Queen or Paul Di’Anno-era Iron Maiden, it is still the vision and classic purpose of their songwriting that brings the band together. Songs that rock. Old heads, new heads, riff-worshippers, and freaks: LORD FOWL have built a city just for you. Fans of Queen, Dirty Honey, Rival Sons, Freedom Hawk, Crobot, Rival Sons, Greenleaf, Fu Manchu, La Chinga, and the like pay heed.

Glorious Babylon will see release via Small Stone Recordings on CD, digital, and deluxe gatefold vinyl formats on April 24th. The vinyl edition — a German import pressing via Kozmik Artifactz — is limited to 500 and will be available in two color variants: transparent pink or clear with purple and white splatter.

For preorders and to stream opening track “Fire Discipline,” visit the Small Stone Bandcamp page at THIS LOCATION.

Glorious Babylon Track Listing:
1. Fire Discipline
2. Glorious Babylon
3. Get Lost
4. Deep Empty
5. The Wraith
6. In Search Of
7. The Gramercy Riffs
8. Red Cloud
9. Epitaph
10. Space Jockey

LORD FOWL:
Jon Conine – bass, guitar
Vechel Jaynes – guitar, vocals
Mike Pellegrino – guitar, vocals
Michael Petrucci – drums, percussion

https://www.facebook.com/LORD-FOWL
http://www.facebook.com/smallstonerecords
http://www.instagram.com/smallstonerecords
http://www.smallstone.com

Lord Fowl, “Fire Discipline”

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