Album review: Backyard babies - Backyard Babies

Backyard Babies, a hardrock meets glamrock band from Nässjö in Sweden, has been active since the late 80’s. After lots of rehearsing, playing gigs and several line-up changes, the band released their debut album Diesel & Power in 1994. Shortly after the release, the band went on hiatus and didn’t get back together for three years. During those years, guitarist Dregen was part of the successful band Hellacopters. Backyard Babies has played with big names as AC/DC, Alice Cooper and Motörhead, and have received a Swedish Grammy for their album Stockholm Syndrome. Their song Minus Celcius [2003] is one of the songs in Guitar Hero 3, giving the band a lot of new possibilities. The self-titled Backyard Babies is their sixth studio album.

Even after 20 years, the boys are still rebellious, as you can read from the titles of their songs. Fuck Off and Die is the opening track and first single of this album. The music sounds like something you have heard before, with an old fashioned guitar riff. Degenerated might have been a better choice as the first song on the album. It’s much more modern and better structured. As a single this song would also do well. It’s easy to shout along, preferably in a car with a decent sound system.

The album doesn’t have many highs or lows. Backyard Babies contains two acoustic songs – Abandon and Saved by the Bell – and apart from those and previously mentioned Degenerated, the album contains mostly glamrock songs that seem to have been written and recorded in the 1980’s.

Backyard Babies has been produced by Jacob Hellner, a Swedish producer who has worked with Rammstein and Apocalyptica. In homeland Sweden this album rapidly made it to number one. I doubt it will get that far in the rest of the world. A couple of tracks definitely have the ability to get airplay, the others are too much alike to be good.

Verdict: If you're into 80's rock, you'll probably like this. If you're not, give it a listen before you buy it. It's a little boring and safe.
Imre