“Tales From New Babel” is not a name of a new novel…it’s not the title of a new movie either…with such a powerful and poignant name that entails strong storytelling elements, you get the Spanish alt-rock band ‘Speaker Cabinets’ with their unique musical fingerprint…and boy, do they tell stories.
From the very first moment I laid my attention to Speaker Cabinets’ “Tales From New Babel”…my eyes fell on the album art, which was like a movie poster…a very fantastical first impression, even before jumping into the album.
…which contains 10 songs that go from slow to fast, simple to complex, laid back to powerful…mixing it up, Speaker Cabinets really knows how to keep the audience engaged throughout all the songs on the album.
Remember, this is not their first rodeo…it’s their second.
The album starts with a bang, “Ghost Town” is not empty at all, in fact, it’s filled with musicality, explosive energy, and absolutely brilliant melodies.
“Ghost Town” incorporates rock and synth together with powerful vocals, upbeat drums and a pretty powerful performance…instantly capturing all ears and hearts.
The secret sauce in the album is…diversity of emotional energies and instantly infectious melodies.
…like, for example, “The Fall” is an excellent song that I could really imagine playing in pivotal scenes in triple-A Hollywood movies…it works as a standalone song and would work perfectly as a movie song too, clearly, the awesome people of Speaker Cabinets know how to make melodies like no other.
Speaking of which…Speaker Cabinets sounds like there is an army of musicians up there, but in truth…this extraordinary musical power comes from just three extraordinary musicians.
…back to our musical journey with “Tales From New Babel”…the album has something very special that needs to be highlighted…it goes for an alt-rock direction, however, it still incorporates the Spanish spirit and soul within its absolutely powerful riffing rock compositions.
As we said, they do mix things up in the album…they even have a piano music interlude titled “Interlude: Arkady’s Dream”…a mesmerizing piece of music that paints pictures with its musicality.
Going through almost all emotions, the album continues to give us one musical surprise after the other…a song that chills us, only to hit us with a song that packs some serious powerful musical energy, powerful drums, soaring guitars, and huge sounding vocals…like “The Pyre” and “A New Beginning”.
…and you get another interlude, this time it’s “Interlude: Alan’s Death”…wait a minute…there is some kind of a hidden story arc here…hmmm…this time around it feels like it’s coming out of an old radio…first of all, wow, secondly, what’s happening here? I want to know more about Alan and what happened to him!
“Tales From New Babel” is a fantastic musical experience, you need to check it out right away actually…it’s one highly recommended album that’s for sure.
We wish the Barcelona trio all the best in life, can’t wait to hear more from the amazing artists.
Cheers!