Babylon Mystery Orchestra - The Great Apostasy: A Conspiracy Of Satanic Christianity

*=Staff's pick	Holy Ghost Pentecost I, Lucifer Prey For Me One Way, One Truth, One Life Church Of State Eye Of The Needle* Wolf In The Fold Who Mourns For Philadelphia? King Of The Earth Antichrist Superczar*

Genre	Doom Metal	Sidney Allen Johnson	Vocals
Tracks	11	-	Guitar
Runningtime	58 Min.	Sidney Allen Johnson	Guitar
Label		Sidney Allen Johnson	Bass
Release	19 Feb. 2006	Sidney Allen Johnson	Drums
Country	USA	Sidney Allen Johnson	Keyboards
Similar artists	---

If one hour filled with critical opinions about the American church, accompanied by slow, fateful songs that comes with droning vocals sound exciting, then The Great Apostasy by Babylon Mystery Orchestra is the album for you. This is the third record made by BMO, which is a one-man-orchestra consisting of one Mr. Sidney Allen Johnson. When browsing through the notebook (which besides the lyrics also contains short excerpts from the bible as well as statements made by both reverends and writers), it doesn't take a genius to figure out that a lot of work has been put into this product.

The music that BMO puts on is probably best described as Candlemass Light. The multi-talented Johnson has written all the songs and also does all of the performances, and this is where the troubles begin. Johnson is definitely a skilled guitarist, but the overall impression is that this is a cut 'n paste-job, which is a shame because the feeling of a whole band performing the songs together never appears. And besides, the drums are obviously programmed, which annoys.

If the production doesn't cut it, the vocals department is even worse. The monotone chants are probably meant to sound like an evil reverend who's preaching to the masses, but the whole idea just becomes too much and it becomes obvious that Johnson should have left the singing to someone else. Sometimes it even borders on the comical, like when Johnson's voice in some cases resembles the great Marlon Brando in The Godfather (as you might have heard of, Brando put little pieces of paper in his mouth to get the proper voice) which certainly wasn't the intention.

The music in itself is at best decent, but mostly just mediocre. The songs are way too long and becomes tiresome before they have played through. There are good moments, though. I, Lucifer is a nice instrumental, while Eye Of The Needle has a chorus that really grabs the listener. And the second half of Antichrist Superczar (which clocks in at over ten minutes) is actually quite beautiful.

Someone who questions the establishment should always be greeted with open arms, but in this case I would have prefered to read a book instead. Sidney Allen Johnson seems like a great guy all the way and I admire his courage, but it matters little when the music fails to draw me in.

Production	Vocals	Compositions
5	3	4

Summary
4 chalices of 10 - Niklas