Another venture, another swing of the axe at the heart, right at the point where Hard Rock meets Heavy Metal. It might be possible to claim that the soaring Swiss vocalist Csaba Zvekan has seen it all in this line of music. Founding RAVEN LORD / EXORCISM / METAL MACHINE was probably not enough for the Swiss musician, and of course it seemed imperative to find another joint venture with the American Neo-Classical shredder, Joe Stump. Therefore, TOWER OF BABEL was assembled, sharing members that were, or still, a part of Zvekan's ongoing romance with Hard N' Heavy along with the maestro on keyboards, Mistheria. It didn't take long for the lineup to come up with their debut album, "Lake Of Fire", while even signing to Lion Music no less, which on its own is quite an achievement.

Once I had the knowledge that Joe Stump was a part of this enterprise, it wasn't that hard to guess the direction of where the music was headed. For Zvekan, the produced material on "Lake Of Fire" sounded different than his other exports. The songwriting generated a vibe of 70's meets 80s Hard Rock and Metal, what for me developed as a refined blending of RAINBOW / WHITESNAKE / BLACK SABBATH / DIO / YNGWIE MALMSTEEN. Alongside epic illustrations that unveiled the blackened sources of the shadow parts of Rock and proto-Metal, there are nicely done marketable tunes, almost in the midst of the LED ZEPPELIN edge in nature but much less boastful. Honestly, sometimes I felt that this album was like a ying and a yang, still find it amusing listening to this approach nowadays, where it is mostly either a hammer on a brick wall or too soft to comprehend. Nonetheless, there were occasions where "Lake Of Fire"'s type of epics were getting a little tiring while also every now and then losing themselves in an inner turmoil.

Focusing on the music, it was a relief for me to notice that there were actual attractive rhythm guitar riffs within the songs. Since the vibe is mainly Malmsteen's, I had my concerns, and I do admire the guy, don't think otherwise. As a matter a fact, the guitar riffs were more of the Ritchie Blackmore impression, diving hard into the RAINBOW shrouds. When it came down to the soloing, it was already written on the wall. Stump's abilities are surreal, the passion for fast playing is in his mind, soul and blood. Nonetheless, sometimes he can get carried away with the length of his soloing sections, which disrupts the songs' flow. With Zvekan, it was no surprise, not screaming his guts out similar to METAL MACHINE, but keeping the steady like of EXORCISM. In general, Zvekan and Stump chose a good lineup to carry out this release with them, especially the rhythm section that made sure that all was tight and dandy.

The Hard Rockin chops of "Addicted" are a fine touch, cool vintage running around while "Eternal Flames" took a heavier stance that literally fired things up with additional energies that proved a solid songwriting. "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll" gathered up a great late 70s feel, not exactly an anthem but a hard ball of Rock nonetheless. TOWER OF BABEL made their respects for the old RAINBOW classic of Graham Bonnet era, "Eyes of the World", an impressive performance with an extra on the soloing act.

Though sounding in the spirit of a shred guitar album, the song driven ambience far reached into its essence and took hold, enabling a solid mixture of both worlds. "Lake Of Fire" is a good release, yet I sometimes felt that it needed more spark in order to become mightier.