Babylon Whores

Active in their native Finland since 1994, Helsinki's Babylon Whores are finally gaining some international attention for their caustic but remarkably melodic metal-inflected rock. They have been signed to metal labels and have a metal attitude, but they're not a metal band in the strictest sense -- they have too healthy a sense of melody, even with the crunching guitars and punishing drums. They often recall the sinister black anthems of early Bauhaus and the swirling gothic sludge of the early Swans. No matter how forceful or violent the band's attack becomes, there's invariably something catchy -- perhaps anthemic is a better word -- about those buzzing heavy bass riffs and the belted melodies, delivered with the dangerous swagger of a cabaret singer in Hades. The images of the occult inform the band's acute lyrical sensibilities, which are a bit reminiscent of the early The Misfits only less cartoonish and more intelligent, returning again and again to the ways in which mankind wreaks havoc on himself and his earth.

Babylon Whores recorded four albums before their breakthrough, 1999's No Fear on California-based Necropolis Records, which helped deliver their bitter, vitriolic death rock to the world outside of Finland. That brutal epic features "Radio, Werewolf" and "Sol Niger."