Pressure (Skindred song)
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''Babylon'' is the debut studio album by Welsh heavy metal band
Skindred Skindred are a Welsh reggae metal band formed in Newport in 1998. Their musical style mixes heavy metal, alternative rock and ragga. The band also integrate elements of punk rock, hardcore punk, reggae, dancehall, jungle, ska, hip hop, drum ...
. The band was formed from members of the disbanded band
Dub War Dub War are a four-piece metal band from Newport, Wales. Formed in 1993, the band's musical style is a mix of metal, punk, and reggae. Biography Dub War formed in 1993 in Wales. The band released two albums, via the metal label Earache Record ...
, including leader
Benji Webbe Clive John "Benji" Webbe (born 11 March 1967) is a Welsh singer, best known as the lead vocalist and synthesizer player for the reggae metal band Skindred. Aside from his main project, he is also active in Diamond Spider, Dub War, Mass Mental and ...
, and signed to
RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...
in 2002, who released the album on 3 July. The band felt that they were being treated poorly by the label, and left in 2004, signing with Bieler Bros. Records, who released the album internationally in association with Lava Records. Each version released featured a significantly altered track listing. Promotion of the album included performing on a tour led by
Korn Korn (stylized as KoЯn, or occasionally KoRn) is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The band is notable for pioneering the nu metal genre and bringing it into the mainstream. Originally formed in 1993 ...
. Two singles were released: "Nobody" and "Pressure", for which music videos were produced. ''Babylon'' has been well received by critics for its fusion of
alternative metal Alternative metal (also known as alt-metal) is a genre of heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With r ...
and
reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
. In 2004, the album peaked at number one on the ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' Top Reggae Albums
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, number five on the Top Heatseekers chart and at number 189 on the ''Billboard'' 200. In 2006, the album again ranked at number one on the Top Reggae Albums chart.


History

Singer
Benji Webbe Clive John "Benji" Webbe (born 11 March 1967) is a Welsh singer, best known as the lead vocalist and synthesizer player for the reggae metal band Skindred. Aside from his main project, he is also active in Diamond Spider, Dub War, Mass Mental and ...
formed
Skindred Skindred are a Welsh reggae metal band formed in Newport in 1998. Their musical style mixes heavy metal, alternative rock and ragga. The band also integrate elements of punk rock, hardcore punk, reggae, dancehall, jungle, ska, hip hop, drum ...
in 1998 with bassist Daniel Pugsley, guitarist Jeff Rose and drummer Martyn "Ginge" Ford after Webbe was unable to put together a new project featuring other members of his former band,
Dub War Dub War are a four-piece metal band from Newport, Wales. Formed in 1993, the band's musical style is a mix of metal, punk, and reggae. Biography Dub War formed in 1993 in Wales. The band released two albums, via the metal label Earache Record ...
. Skindred recorded their debut album, ''Babylon'' with producer Howard Benson. The album was first released in 2002 by
RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...
, and reissued in 2003 with an altered track listing, achieving some success in
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and amongst fans of heavy metal in the underground music scene in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. Band members Martyn "Ginge" Ford and Jeff Rose left the band following the release of the album, citing poor treatment by RCA. The band left RCA to sign with Bieler Bros. Records, who released the album internationally in association with Lava Records in 2004. This version featured different artwork, removed the songs "Falling Down," "Kiss and Make Up," and "Together", and included new interludes featuring dancehall musicians Jatoman Busha and Herbius Darussalam, and four new songs: "Start First", "We Want", "Tears" and "The Beginning of Sorrows".


Music

''Babylon'' features a style which the band refers to as "
Ragga Raggamuffin music, usually abbreviated as ragga, is a subgenre of dancehall and reggae music. The instrumentals primarily consist of electronic music. Similar to hip hop, sampling often serves a prominent role in raggamuffin music. Wayne Sm ...
metal", fusing heavy metal, punk rock and
reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
influences. Benji Webbe has also jokingly referred to the band's musical style as "nu-reggae", in reference to the term
nu metal Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, sometimes called aggro-metal) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop, alternative rock, funk, industrial, and grunge. Nu met ...
. In his review of the album,
Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
critic Johnny Loftus wrote that ''Babylon'' brought a new edge to the "blasé world" of
rap rock Rap rock is a fusion genre that fuses vocal and instrumental elements of hip hop with various forms of rock. Rap rock's most popular subgenres include rap metal and rapcore, which include heavy metal and hardcore punk-oriented influences, resp ...
, writing that "Emerging from the ashes of Dub War, Benji Webbe and company eschew that band's fetish for freely shifting sounds, in favor of a more focused ragga-
rap-metal Rap metal is a subgenre of rap rock and alternative metal music which combines hip hop with heavy metal. It usually consists of heavy metal guitar riffs, funk metal elements, rapped vocals and sometimes turntables. History Origins and earl ...
attack. It's not merely a facsimile of last year's money-making metal model. No, what little repetition does exist here comes from the
dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rou ...
influence, the harping and chatting over a nonstop groove."
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reviewer Justin Falzon compares Webbe to "a flexible mesh of Jonathan Davis and
Beenie Man Anthony Moses Davis (born 22 August 1973), better known by his stage name Beenie Man, is a Jamaican Dancehall deejay. Biography Davis was born in the Waterhouse district of Kingston in 1973.Moskowitz, David V. (2006) ''Caribbean Popular Mus ...
", writing that "comparing his apparent vocal mastery to any one (or two) artists is nigh impossible. He screams, he wails, he growls, he rolls, and he jumps all over the register at will; it's an altogether astounding virtuoso performance. Unfortunately the music itself - slightly less funk than
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, slightly more punk than
Limp Bizkit Limp Bizkit is an American rap rock band from Jacksonville, Florida. Its lineup consists of lead vocalist Fred Durst, drummer John Otto, guitarist Wes Borland, turntablist DJ Lethal and bassist Sam Rivers. The band's music is marked by D ...
, and much more reggae than both - can't possibly keep up with Webbe's vocal apocalypse."


Release

Skindred toured in promotion of the album alongside Breaking Benjamin, Chevelle and Instruction, in a tour led by
Korn Korn (stylized as KoЯn, or occasionally KoRn) is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The band is notable for pioneering the nu metal genre and bringing it into the mainstream. Originally formed in 1993 ...
. The band also performed on '' Late Night with Conan O'Brien''. The first
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from the album, "Nobody", was released on 3 October 2005. A second edition of the single was released the same day, containing a remix of the song. A music video for "Nobody" was produced, and appeared in solid rotation on Fuse TV and
MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television Cable television, channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. The channel launched initially as an all-music video service, once the original MTV had started to sh ...
. The second single from the album, "Pressure", was released as a 7" on 6 February 2006. It contained the album version of the song and the "Happy Roses Baggy Mix" of "World Domination". A CD single of "Pressure" was released on 6 February 2006. It contained the album version of the song, the "Drum N Bass Fix Pressure"
remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...
, and the non-album track "Rude Boy 4 Life", as well as an
Enhanced CD Enhanced CD is a certification mark of the Recording Industry Association of America for various technologies that combine audio and computer data for use in both Compact Disc and CD-ROM players. Formats that fall under the "enhanced CD" ca ...
feature containing the song's music video. In the
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, the album charted at #1 on the ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' Top Reggae Albums
chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...
, #5 on the Top Heatseekers chart and at #189 on the ''Billboard'' 200, and the single "Nobody" peaked at #14 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and at #23 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart in 2004. In 2005, the single "Pressure" peaked at #30 on the
Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...
chart. In 2006, ''Babylon'' once again charted at #1 on the Top Reggae Albums chart.


Reception

Critical response to the album was positive. Allmusic critic Johnny Loftus wrote that "Skindred doesn't seem to consciously want the reinvention tag; it has simply tapped into the same lack of pretension that fueled ''
Korn Korn (stylized as KoЯn, or occasionally KoRn) is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The band is notable for pioneering the nu metal genre and bringing it into the mainstream. Originally formed in 1993 ...
'' and Living Colour's ''
Vivid Vivid may refer to: Music * Vivid (band), a Japanese rock band * "Vivid" (song), by Electronic, 1999 *"ViViD", a 2016 song by Loona from '' HeeJin'' Albums * ''Vivid'' (Vivian Green album), 2015 * ''Vivid'' (Crystal Kay album), 2012 * ''Vivi ...
'' -- records that were made visionary by an unadulterated honesty in both delivery and craft. ..highly recommended for fans of literate genre jumpers like Soulfly and System of a Down, or any heshers looking for some heavy-hitting firepower that hasn't fallen victim to the anvil of corporate assimilation." IGN reviewer Justin Falzon called the album "a welcome attempt to innovate today's mainstream metal", writing that it "can be decidedly erratic, but nonetheless fascinating and difficult to dismiss" and concludes that "Skindred manages to place themselves outside the cookie-cutter conventions, nearly pulling off something fresh in the process." Audio Video Revolution reviewer Paul Lingas wrote that "most of the tracks are somewhat short, but too many of them blend one right into the other and end up sounding like noise ..look for Skindred to plant themselves firmly on the map with this debut album." TuneLab reviewer Jay described ''Babylon'' as "Party beach-type music for
metalheads A metalhead is a member of the heavy metal subculture. Metalhead may also refer to: Music * ''Metalhead'' (album), 1999 album by Saxon * "Metalhead", a song by Blotto * "Metalhead", a song from the 2008 Miss Kittin album ''BatBox'' * Metalheadz ...
", and ''Eagle Eye'' reviewer Edward Savoy called Skindred "the musically enlightened head-bangers dream".


Track listing

Three editions of the album were released, each with a different track listing. *"Vampire Killa" is a
hidden track In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as t ...


Personnel

Information taken from
Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
.


Musicians

*
Benji Webbe Clive John "Benji" Webbe (born 11 March 1967) is a Welsh singer, best known as the lead vocalist and synthesizer player for the reggae metal band Skindred. Aside from his main project, he is also active in Diamond Spider, Dub War, Mass Mental and ...
— vocals * Daniel Pugsley — bass * Mikey Demus — guitar * Jeff Rose — guitar * Martyn Ford — drums


Additional personnel

* Brandon Abeln — assistant * Howard Benson — keyboards, producer * Aaron Bieler — A&R * Jason Bieler — producer, mixing, A&R * Christina Dittmar — art direction * Martyn Ford — digital editing * Mike Fuller — mastering * Gersh — drum technician * Andrew Goldman — engineer, mixing * David Holdrege — pro-tools * Ted Jensen — mastering * Andrew Karp — A&R * Per Kviman — A&R * Jason Lader — digital editing * Eric Miller — engineer, digital editing * Martie Muhoberac — production coordination * Keith Nelson — guitar technician * Johnny O. — digital editing * Mark Obriski — design * Mike Plotnikoff — engineer, digital editing * F. Scott Schafer — photography * Rick "Soldier" Will — mixing


Notes

* This track listing reflects the United Kingdom release, as the version released in the United States does not contain the track "We Want".


References

{{Authority control 2002 debut albums Skindred albums Bieler Bros. Records albums Lava Records albums Bertelsmann Music Group albums RCA Records albums Albums produced by Howard Benson