REFUGEE – Affairs In Babylon

Refugee is a Canadian band filed with rockers from the good “old school.” They may not be the “old school” masters that stand out in history, but they sure are putting out a great effort on this album called Affairs In Babylon. Their music can best be described as leaning more towards a straight and mid-tempo version of Foreigner, while being less “epic” than Bon Jovi’s music from the 80s. This album will be released May 9, 2005, and it includes 15 tracks, where the last 3 songs are live recordings.

The concept is not complex at all. It is down to earth, Classic Rock — Pop with some traditional elements. This band has a huge focus on intense guitar riffs and some catchy courses. So far so good, eh?! The songs are mostly inspired by rock music from the late 80s and the beginning of the 90s. After a few spins, it is pretty clear that Refugee have created some songs that make the foot bounce.

The individual musicians are all performing very well, specially the guitarist and the drummer –- they are delivering an amazing performance through the whole CD. The tracks are mostly very good, but a couple of the songs are totally ill–placed; they just do not reach all the way like the rest of the songs on the album. To talk about those tracks that are good, there are quite a few peaks consisting of several outstanding guitar riffs and leads with catchy hooks. This band obviously has developed some fine songwriting skills.

The lyrics are as expected from a band in this Rock – Pop genre, dealing with a lot of love, dream, and heartbreaks. The band places their words well, and keeps the song lyrics from being overly cliché. In the track called “No Survivors/No Way Out,” a song about every human’s search for love and understanding through hard times, the theme is people have great dreams in life, but no one will survive – their is simply no way out! This song may, in the end, be a bit broody, but most of the songs on this album are happy songs.

“Exiles In The Dark,”which is the first single out from the album, is a great song. It starts with an amusing keyboard and drum intro, then it follows with some great guitar riffs and a vocalist who almost sounds like Bon Jovi. This was a great choice for a first single out. “Hot Words” and “Here We Go Again” are other songs with hit potential.

This album is worth many spins, because the vocals are really suitable for the music and the rhythm section and the lead guitarist are showing that they know what they are doing. Hopefully the next album will be filled with even more power and up-tempo songs. This album might be a good sign of what might come in the future.

It seems that recently a lot of bands from the 80s are reuniting, like Motley Crüe, Shy, L.A., among others, and Refugee have thrown themselves towards this wave. REFUGEE was a Canadian Rock band that enjoyed great success in the mid-1980s, and were originally known as Michael Fury. The members of Refugee have formerly played in bands like Zon and Helix. In connection with the release date of Affairs In Babylon, the band has begun a tour in Canada and the USA.

Lineup

Myles Hunter (vocals, guitar)
Rob Kennedy (guitars, vocals)
Brian Doerner (drums)
Howard Helm (keyboards, vocals)
Martyn Jones (bass, vocals)