Backyard Babies - Four by Four

(CD Album Review)

****1/2

Babies are back at their best!!!

Backyard Babies are back! with what could be their biggest record yet, 'Four by Four' is an explosive concoction of all elements of the Swedish Rock 'n' Roll bands history. The album contains the sound of all six albums before it, with a hint of maturity and an a new revived attitude to hit you like a sledge hammer... while seducing you with traditional Blues and Rock 'n' Roll tones. This is a band that has really put their full soul into one record, and that record is 'Four by Four'.

Opening with the cleverly made up single 'Thirteen or Nothing', the Babies give you a hint of what you going to expect from the rest of the album. Their old fashioned Blues tones don't seem out dated at all, they just feel alive and their is a real kick to the song that comes and goes the whole way through. Making this a song that you will be playing in years to come.

Think 'Highlights' gone Blues and Rock 'n' Roll and you won't even have this new classic. They continue on in a song that they could have released years ago 'I'm on my way to save your Rock 'n' Roll' has a feel of bands like No Direction and The Wildhearts jammed in with their classic Swedish feel. It has a fast feel to it and is gone in the blink of an eye. Leading on to 'White light District', in my opinion is one of the standout songs on the album. It has the classic Nick Borg vocals and storytelling, backed up with the classic licks of Dregen and the Backyard Babies stop start signature melodies.

The slow things down with the almost stadium Rock ballad 'Bloody Tears', it has hints of Alice Cooper's quieter songs mixed with Nick Borg's solo project Homeland. It's a very commercial track and gives a great contrast to other songs on the album. Showing off that Nick's songwriting has really progressed over the year, if you like Soft Rock this will be your new favourite Backyard Babies song. I love the lyrical content of the track 'Piracy', it's a problem that all musicians are having in 2015 so need to be addressed.

This is a really fun track and would have fitted in really nicely on the 'Making enemies is Good' album, which is one of my favourite albums by them to date. It's just a pure Rock / Punk song, given a Classic Rock vibe to it, and Dregen guitar work is brilliant on it. Check the little segment near the end, it's so good. 'Never finish Anything' is a really outstanding track, it has so many good elements to. The catchy chorus' the almost Rancid melody and the mix of Nick and Dregens voices with Peder steady fast drums and Johan's attitude on the bass.

'Mirrors (Shall be Broken)' also goes back to mainstream Rock, and is a song that sinks in quickly. You just feel that you know this song, and it is very comforting. They speed it up with the sound of 'Wasted Years', which is a very modern sounding track for Backyard Babies. It almost sounds like American Punk from the Vans Warped Tour, but they have not messed up their own sound.

They close the album with the sound of the double bass and a slow track called 'Walls', which is very different from the other tracks on the album. It's a little Rockabilly and has a haunting tone to it, until it breaks into a Wildhearts Esq. chorus. The ending of this song is just so epic, sounding like something out of the Horror movie 'Halloween'. The Backyard Babies are back!!! and you better pay attention... their better than ever. It has been well worth the wait and a band you will not want to miss when they hit the UK and Europe in November.

Review by Dan Devour and Photo's by Dan Devour and Official Backyard Babies Promo Shots