While Metal is not my preferred music style I have grown to like it a little more and I was looking forward to hearing some good anthem rock from Holy Soldier on this album. Holy cow was I in for a surprise. Eric Wayne is back on vocals and some how the band decided it was a good idea to completely change their style. They decided to turn their back on all their fans and do a grunge album. To be clear while I struggle with liking Metal sometimes I don’t struggle with grunge at all. I hate it, period. I just wonder how all the Holy Soldier diehards reacted to getting a completely different style album. I also believe this was the downfall of the band. Yes they had one more album after this but it was a self release because I kind of doubt any record company wanted anything to do with them. I am a little surprised that Eddie Degarmo was an Executive Producer for the album. I strongly respect Ed but he should have known that completely changing styles was not a good idea. Okay lets mover onto the album. As much as I dislike grunge this is a well done album. They actually nailed the sound and did a good job of it. The one exception is the cover of Larry’s “Why Don’t You Look Into Jesus” which is just horrible. So were you a Holy Soldier fan? Did you like the new sound?
Tracklist
1 – Promise Man – 4:35
2 – Mumbo Jumbo – 4:33
3 – My World – 4:02
4 – Rust – 5:45
5 – Why Don’t You Look Into Jesus – 4:05
6 – Break It Down – 3:55
7 – Cover Me – 4:33
8 – Grind – 3:14
9 – Love Conquers All – 5:13
10 – Sand – 4:29
Credits
Bass – Andy Robbins
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – Scott Soderstrom
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Mandolin – Michael Cutting
Engineer – Doug Beiden
Engineer [Assistent Engineer] – Sean McLean
Executive-Producer – Dan R. Brock, Eddie Degarmo
Mastered By – Ken Love
Producer – David Zaffiro
Vocals – Eric Wayne
Written By – Andy Robbins, David Zaffiro, Eric Wayne, Michael Cutting, Scott Soderstrom
Companies, etc.
Marketed By – Alliance Music
Distributed By – Alliance Music
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – The ForeFront Communications Group, Inc.
Copyright © – The ForeFront Communications Group, Inc.
This was one of the greatest let-downs in the history of Christian rock. Holy Soldier’s first two albums are rightly considered classics of the genre. I guess the main change was vocalist Steven Patrick leaving after Last Train to go solo. However, you are correct that the band completely changed their sound for Promise Man. From high quality Sunset Strip style hard rock they moved to a downbeat Grunge/Alternative sound. Sadly the sound wasn’t the only issue, it was the quality of the songs. Only My World and the title track were good. The rest were decidedly average. I feel it would have been better for the band to change their identity along with their sound as this poor third album tainted their legacy.