Babylon (Skindred album)

Babylon is the debut studio album by Welsh heavy metal band Skindred. The band was formed from members of the disbanded band Dub War, including leader Benji Webbe, and signed to RCA Records 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. 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 and reggae. In 2004, the album peaked at number one on the Billboard Top Reggae Albums chart, 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.

Singer Benji Webbe formed Skindred 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. Skindred recorded their debut album, Babylon with producer Howard Benson. The album was first released in 2002 by RCA Records, and reissued in 2003 with an altered track listing, achieving some success in Europe and amongst fans of heavy metal in the underground music scene in the United States. Benji Webbe has also jokingly referred to the band's musical style as "nu reggae", in reference to the term nu metal. In his review of the album, Allmusic critic Johnny Loftus wrote that Babylon brought a new edge to the "blasé world" of rap rock, 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 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 influence, the harping and chatting over a nonstop groove." IGN reviewer Justin Falzon compares Webbe to "a flexible mesh of Jonathan Davis and Beenie Man", 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 311, slightly more punk than Limp Bizkit, and much more reggae than both can't possibly keep up with Webbe's vocal apocalypse."

Information taken from Allmusic.