This is the second studio album by Vengeance Rising. It follows the same path of thrash metal as their first album. It is often considered their best album and I’ve read a few reviews that said it was the best Christian thrash album ever. Apparently it’s good enough that it crossed over into secular fans. As I’ve said before when It comes to this style I have no idea if it’s good or not as it’s all I can do to listen to it’s once. The lyrics are very biblical based (when I could understand them) which I found surprising but their is one exception track and that’s a rather odd cover of Deep Purples’ Space Truckin’. I’m not criticizing I just struggle to figure out the reason for this track. Anyway here it is, apparently the best Christian Thrash Metal album their is.
Tracklist 1 – Warfare – 4:50 2 – Can’t Get Out – 3:50 3 – Cut Into Pieces – 3:15 4 – Frontal Lobotomy – 4:05 5 – Herod’s Violent Death – 3:07 6 – The Whipping Post – 8:40 7 – Arise – 4:50 8 – Space Truck’In – 5:00 9 – Out Of The Will – 2:04 10 – The Wrath To Come – 2:43 11 – Into The Abyss – 8:18 12 – Among The Dead – 3:03 13 – Interruption – 0:50
Credits Arranged By – Vengeance Rising Bass – Roger Dale Martin Drums – Glenn Mancaruso Engineer, Mixed By – Dave Jahnsen Guitar – Doug Thieme, Larry Farkas Mastered By – Eddie Schreyer Producer, Mixed By – Ron Goudie Vocals – Roger Martinez
Companies, etc. Phonographic Copyright (p) – Intense Records Copyright (c) – Intense Records Recorded At – The Mixing Lab Glass Mastered At – Nimbus, Virginia
Halo, which apparently stands for “Heavenly Angelic Light Orchestra”, were a great hard rock/metal band out of Alabama. They formed in 1980 and strangely had a non Christian drummer, Mike Graham, who was also only 14 years old while the rest of the band was in the area of 21 years old. He did come to Christ in a couple years but I find it odd someone would ask a 14 year old non Christian drummer to join their adult Christian band. But whatever, it all seemed to work out. The band played for the next 9 years without a record deal. A demo tape got to Bob Hartman (Petra) and he started to mentor the band. Bob finally got them a record deal in 1989 with the Elefante brothers over at Pakaderm Records. This album was then recorded with much involvement of the Elefante’s and released in 1990. Best description of the sound would be a power Rock & Roll band which some (including me) might consider to be light metal. This is one that definitely deserves a listen.
Tracklist 1 – Jesus Music – 4:20 2 – Lord Of All – 4:39 3 – Good Feeling – 4:13 4 – Soul Searcher – 4:35 5 – Skyrocket – 3:45 6 – Lose To Live – 4:33 7 – Sing (Of His Glory) – 4:21 8 – Language Barrier – 5:09 9 – Time To Run – 4:01 10 – Timeless – 1:07
Credits Arranged By [Additional] – Bob Hartman (tracks: 3, 4, 8) Backing Vocals – John Elefante Band [Halo], Drums, Keyboards, Backing Vocals – Mike Graham Band [Halo], Guitar, Backing Vocals – Keith Mims Band [Halo], Lead Vocals, Bass Guitar – Scott Springer Cover, Illustration, Layout – Robert Fischer Drums – David Raven (tracks: 5) Engineer, Mixed By – Dino Elefante, John Elefante, Mike Mierau Guitar – Dino Elefante, Glen Pierce, Tony Palacios (tracks: 5) Keyboards – John Elefante Mastered By – Doug Sax Piano – John Schreiner (tracks: 4, 8) Producer – Dino Elefante, John Elefante Vocals [Duet] – John Elefante (tracks: 5), Scott Springer (tracks: 5)
Companies, etc. Manufactured By – Word, Inc. Distributed By – Word, Inc. Phonographic Copyright (p) – Pakaderm Records Copyright (c) – Pakaderm Records Published By – Benefante Music Recorded At – Pakaderm Studios Mastered At – The Mastering Lab
I get the feeling you either love or hate this album. I’m going to be honest on first listen I didn’t like it but I didn’t hate it either. Keep in mind I listen to a new album every day so so often I forget about them 20 minutes after listening to it. I listened to this album yesterday but today felt I had to listen to it again. Then it hooked me. Ez Gomér and Terry Haw from Leviticus decided to try something new and this is it. This is the only album we got from them in the 90’s though they did record a second one but apparently there was a record label problem and it has never been released. Can you even believe Word Records released this one? If I had to describe the sound I guess I would pick “Fusion Metal” but even that’s not fair because this album is it’s own dog. Don’t give up after the opening track as the rest of the album does not incorporate rap again. Personally however “Victory Dance” works for me and I HATE rap in any form so that’s saying something. If you really only have time for one track at least make it their cover of the Gene Vincent song “Be Bop A Lula”.
Tracklist 1 – Victory Dance – 3:30 2 – Rockin’ Horse – 3:43 3 – Jet Blue – 3:18 4 – Step On It – 5:15 5 – Ghost Town – 4:09 6 – Break This Jail – 5:40 7 – Be Bop A Lula – 2:44 8 – Train – 4:07 9 – Run – 4:39 10 – Dress In White – 4:14
Credits Bass, Keyboards, Backing Vocals – Ez Gomér Design – Ez Gomér Engineer [Engineered By] – Janne Mattsson, Martin Cervall Guest [Special Thanks To], Choir – Lotta Gustavsson (tracks: 1) Guest [Special Thanks To], Drum Programming – Jörgen Tjusling Guest [Special Thanks To], Harmonica – Göran Norin Lead Vocals, Guitar – Terry Haw Photography By – Lennart Sjöberg Producer [Produced By] – Ez Gomér, Terry Haw Written-By [All Titles By] – Ez Gomér (tracks: 1 to 6, 8 to 10), Terry Haw (tracks: 1 to 6, 8 to 10)
Companies, etc. Phonographic Copyright (p) – Wonderland Copyright (c) – Wonderland Phonographic Copyright (p) – Word Records Limited Copyright (c) – Word Records Limited Phonographic Copyright (p) – Word (Uk) Ltd. Copyright (c) – Word (Uk) Ltd. Manufactured By – Word, Inc. Distributed By – Word, Inc. Recorded At – Studio Jam (3) Published By – Big Rage! Productions
This was the introductory album from New Jersey metal band Haven. Released in 1990 you might have missed it in the flood of Metal albums coming out at this time but this one did have some differences. It is more of a white metal album with no keyboards confusing the sound. You certainly won’t mistake this for the glam style metal albums of the time. This is in fact a straight up metal band that relies on great guitar riffs and solid time keeping drums. The vocals are not that high pitch screaming but instead a more middle of the range quality feel. Again this is not my style of music but I can hear the quality here. These guys definitely knew what they were doing. My only complaint is the mix, it just really could have used some more range but instead feels compressed at times. That said you should definitely give this album listen if you missed it at the time. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Tracklist 1 – On Judgement Day – 5:22 2 – Deliver Me – 4:47 3 – Murder – 4:48 4 – Below The Grave – 2:49 5 – The Calling – 5:36 6 – America – 4:38 7 – Escape – 4:34 8 – Help Me Follow – 3:23 9 – I Found Love – 5:35 10 – Your Dying Day – 5:37
Credits Acoustic Guitar – Andrew Bruner Artwork – Sudden Images Backing Vocals – Kevin Ayers Drums – Tim Benton Electric Bass – Ed Bruner Electric Guitar – Andrew Bruner Electric Guitar, Rhythm Guitar – Kevin Ayers Lead Vocals – Kevin Ayers Photography By – Mike Ayers Producer – Doug Mann, Paul Krueger Songwriter – Haven
Companies, etc. Recorded At – Morningstar Studios Distributed By – Spectra Distribution, Inc. Phonographic Copyright (p) – R.E.X. Music Inc. Copyright (c) – R.E.X. Music Inc. Glass Mastered At – DADC – DIDX-008265
After the dissolution of Daniel Band Guitarist/Vocalist Toni Rossi did a couple of solo projects. This is the first of those 2 projects. If you like Daniel Band you should like this album. It has a Hard Rock sound and is not that far a departure from Daniel Band. It does have a blues feel in places which Rossi does extremely well. It appears that Rossi put together an entirely new band for this project as no members of Daniel Band are credited as contributing to the album. The album was partly produced by Wolf Hassel who Canadians might be familiar with as he was in Sheriff and Frozen Ghost. I can’t find any other connection of him to Christian music so this was probably more of a professional arrangement. Toni did do one more album after this one using the moniker “TRB” (Toni Rossi Band).
Tracklist 1 – Down Where The Love Grows – 3:55 2 – Sooner Or Later – 5:03 3 – Ain’t Nobody Gonna – 4:00 4 – Not What It Seems – 3:24 5 – Love In The City – 5:37 6 – Candles – 0:48 7 – Higher – 4:53 8 – I.C.Y. – 4:38 9 – Love Followed Me Home – 4:23 10 – One Way Inn – 4:11 11 – Dry The Tears – 4:38
Credits Toni Rossi – Vocals, Guitars, Backing vocals Frank Catrambone – Drums Lynn Fuhr – Backing Vocals David Graham – Keyboards, Backing vocals John Hughes – Drums Wayne Morgan – Bass, Backing vocals Sam Sundarsingh – Backing vocals Steven Jones – Cover Design, Illustrations Michael Sarracini – Engineer, Producer Wolf D. Hassel – Producer
Companies, etc. Distributed By – Spectra Distribution Phonographic Copyright (p) – Refuge Records Copyright (c) – Refuge Records
The Rawling brothers are back with their second and last album as “Crossection”. It’s even better than their first album and I think if this album had been published closer to 1985 these guys would have been known to everyone who listened to CCM music. Unfortunately they were just a little late and as such they never received the credit they should have. This is a fantastic Pop Rock album with hints of Nightranger and Bon Jovi. It is not metal though you will read that in a few spots on the internet. I have no idea what album those people were listening to but it’s not any of the 3 Crossection albums I have listened to. The brothers did go on to do one more CCM album after this one using the moniker “Doug Rawling And The Fourth Watch”. Of course if your Canadian you’re probably well aware of their country music work up until this day. So if you missed this one in 1990 take a bit of time and give it a listen, you will not be disappointed.
Tracklist 1 – River’s Edge – 4:13 2 – Give It A Rest – 4:13 3 – Too Much Sadness – 4:28 4 – Touch The Sky – 4:30 5 – Fork In The Road – 5:08 6 – Where You Go – 5:14 7 – High And Dry – 3:12 8 – Tears For The Taking – 4:42 9 – I’m Missing You – 4:12 10 – Against The Grain – 6:11
Credits Dale Johnson – Keyboards, Vocals Nevin Eggum – lead & rhythm guitar, lead vocals Douglas Rawling – rhythm guitar, lead vocals Bruce Rawling – bass, acoustic guitar, lead vocals Martin Zinger – drums, vocals
Companies, etc. Manufactured For – Image 7 Music, Vancouver Phonographic Copyright (p) – Image 7 Music Inc. Copyright (c) – Image 7 Music Inc.
This is the second album from Guardian. There were a few personnel changes with Jamie Rowe coming in on vocals and Karl Ney on drums. Jamie Rowe had been with Tempest and was a great fit with Guardian. Though this album is often called a metal album I disagree. To me it’s more Hard Rock but I admit does have a few metal “moments”. Often it’s compared to Bon Jovi but again I don’t really agree. It really does have it’s own sound but I more often hear Def Leopard than Bon Jovi. Further enhancing this album is the fact that John & Dino Elefante were involved in the project with John helping with Songwriting and Keyboards. Both brothers engineered and produced the album. There was a music video produced for “Power Of Love” but no one seems to know if MTV ever played it. Guardian definitely turned it up a notch for this album and it definitely deserves a listen.
Tracklist 1 – Power Of Love – 4:33 2 – Send A Message – 4:00 3 – Time Stands Still – 4:26 4 – Forever And A Day – 5:11 5 – Takin’ On The World – 3:52 6 – Fire And Love – 3:25 7 – Turnaround – 4:18 8 – Time And Time Again – 4:52 9 – The Rain – 5:31 10 – Never Say Goodbye – 5:06
Credits Accordion – Glen Hirami Art Direction, Design – Terry DeGraff Backing Vocals – Max Alpha, Dino, Jamie, John, Tony Bass – David Bach Cover [Consultant] – Sandra Ney Drums – David Raven, Karl Ney Engineer – Dino Elefante, Jeff Simmons, John Elefante, Mike Mierau Guitar – Tony Palacios Keyboards – John Elefante Lead Vocals – Jamie Rowe Mixed By – Dino Elefante, Mike Mierau Mixed By [Assisted By] – Gil Griffith Pedal Steel Guitar – Ron Eglit Photography By – Jeff Jones Producer – Dino Elefante, John Elefante Vocals – David Bach, Karl Ney, Tony Palacios
Companies, etc. Phonographic Copyright (p) – Pakaderm Records Copyright (c) – Pakaderm Records Manufactured By – Word, Inc. Distributed By – Word, Inc. Pressed By – Denon Digital Industries Recorded At – Pakaderm Studios Mastered At – Precision Mastering
For their second album Deliverance turned up the thrash to 10. Upon reading reviews of this album it seems like this album is loved by the people who love this genre. A few even said this may be the best Christian trash album ever. Obviously I can’t really comment on this as I don’t like thrash and to me it all sounds the same. I did find the track “23” quite interesting as it makes a reference to Psalm 23. I just can’t get used to thrash metal making a reference to a Psalm. Anyway while I may not care for the album I can tell that it is a good album judging from the reviews. It’s history of re-releases, 2008, 2014, and twice in 2017 is a further testament to it’s popularity. So if you’re a metal head with a love of thrash this obviously is the album for you.
Tracklist 1 – Supplication – 1:48 2 – This Present Darkness – 2:47 3 – Weapons Of Our Warfare – 4:25 4 – Solitude – 6:05 5 – Flesh And Blood – 7:27 6 – Bought By Blood – 3:17 7 – 23 – 5:49 8 – Slay The Wicked – 4:03 9 – Greetings Of Death – 2:49 10 – If We Faint Not – 4:25
Credits Art Direction – Ed McTaggart Band [Deliverance Is], Bass – Brian Khairullah Band [Deliverance Is], Drums – Chris Hyde Band [Deliverance Is], Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – George Ochoa Band [Deliverance Is], Vocals [All Vocals], Rhythm Guitar, Lead Guitar – Jimmy P. Brown II Co-producer [Co-produced By] – Jimmy P. Brown II Design Concept [Cover Concept By] – Jimmy P. Brown II Engineer [2nd Engineer] – Brian “Missing” Person Engineer, Producer [Production Assistant] – Eric “Homefilth” Kibbe Illustration [Cover Illustration By] – Joe Yakovetic Layout – Joe Potter Mixed By – Bill Metoyer Photography By – Douglas Cloutier Producer [Produced By] – George Ochoa
Companies, etc. Phonographic Copyright (p) – Intense Records Copyright (c) – Intense Records Distributed By – The Benson Company, Inc. Published By – Broken Songs Published By – Carlotta Publishing Glass Mastered At – Nimbus, Virginia
When a band with only five studio releases is able to have four placed on a list like this, it says something about the band that is beyond impressive. And the thing is, I am not a huge Adam Again fan stylistically, but utterly recognize the Gene Eugene Andrusco and crew created some of the most impressive music ever recorded over that very short five album career. And I don’t just mean the most impressive music ever recorded in CCM…but anywhere! The title track kicks off things with such an unforgettable groove and some impressive and memorable lyrics. Eugene’s is master storyteller here and anyone who remembers their youth and childhood will find something here to reflect upon. The loss of friendship and innocence is difficult and real. Obviously raised with a love for blues, R&B and cool funk/soul, Eugene was able to capture those grooves and place them firmly into the heart of alternative music. Often compared vocally to Michael Stipe and, in the early days, musically to The Talking Heads, on Homeboys there is more jazz, funk and heavier rock influences than either of those comparisons. Very few bands with the above comparisons and influences would be able to create a song like “Hide Away.” Mellow without ever being soft there is something more Van Morrison like here and it is utterly brilliant with a perfectly included violin accompaniment. The vocal passion in the album’s closer, No Regrets, again points to why this band was so amazing. Eugene and then wife, Riki Michelle, join forces here to bring the message home. The most auto-biographical record for Eugene, Homeboys is a classic along with two more that will follow.
Contributor David Lowman – https://ccms500bestalbums.wordpress.com/
Tracklist 1 – Homeboys – 3:41 2 – The Fine Line – 4:32 3 – Hide Away – 2:51 4 – Bad News On The Radio – 3:52 5 – Inner City Blues – 5:44 6 – Dance Around In Circles – 2:39 7 – This Band Is Our House – 5:56 8 – Save Me – 4:11 9 – Occam’s Razor – 3:35 10 – No Regrets – 5:24
Credits Art Direction, Layout, Photography By – Bruce Heavin Assemblage [Assembled By] – Dave Collins Bass – Paul Valadex Drums – Jon Knox Engineer [Additional] – Greg Lawless, Ojo Taylor, Paul Valadez, Super C Keyboards – James Werning Lead Guitar – Greg Lawless Mixed By – G. Eugene Mixed By [With] – Greg Lawless (tracks: 1, 2, 5 to 10), Jeff Simmons (tracks: 3, 4), Paul Valadez (tracks: 1, 2, 5 to 10) Producer [Produced By] – Gene Eugene Recorded By – G. Eugene Saxophone – Dan Michaels Vocals – Riki Michele Vocals, Guitar, Electric Piano [Rhodes], Organ [B-3] – G. Eugene Voice [Preaching] – Rev. Howard Finster, Man Of Visions
Companies, etc. Copyright (c) – Brainstorm Artists International Manufactured By – Word, Inc. Distributed By – Word, Inc. Recorded At – The Mixing Lab Recorded At – Neverland Recorded At – Winetree Recording Recorded At – Pakaderm West Studios Mixed At – The Mixing Lab Mixed At – Pakaderm Studios Engineered At – Icehouse, Upland, CA Engineered At – A&M Studios Mastered At – Bernie Grundman Mastering Published By – Chenka, Chenka Music Published By – Jobete Music Manufactured By – JVC
Holy soldier formed in the 80’s by bassist Andy Robbins and guitarist Jamie Cramer and they quickly gained popularity in their hometown of Los Angeles. They commonly played secular outlets but maintained an evangelical message. In 1988 they released a demo and it was very popular in both secular and Christian circles. They were subsequently signed to some sort of deal between Word (Myrrh) and A&M Records. I’m not sure but I think they may have been the first Metal band sign by Word but admittedly I could be wrong. The album did really well in Christian circles and actually had some moderate success with secular audiences. The album achieved two Dove Awards in the hard rock song and album of the year categories. Point of trivia of the album is that is was produced by Bloodgood guitarist David Zaffiro and he did a great job. The album has a polished commercial sound and was as good as anything published at the time in the secular Metal genre.
Tracklist 1 – Stranger – 3:25 2 – See No Evil – 5:28 3 – The Pain Inside Of Me – 6:35 4 – Cry Out For Love – 3:28 5 – Tear Down The Walls – 3:58 6 – When The Reign Comes Down – 5:17 7 – Lies – 4:58 8 – Eyes Of Innocence – 3:55 9 – Love Me – 4:15 10 – We Are Young, We Are Strong – 5:15
Credits A&R [A&R Direction] – Mark Maxwell Art Direction – Laurie M. Fink Art Direction, Design – F2 Design Backing Vocals – Andy, Jamie, Michael, Steven, Terry Backing Vocals [Additional] – Charles Meserole, Donna Rood, Donny Russell, Evelyn Watson, Marc Anthony, Michael Plissner, Sherie Hopper, Vanessa Beckrum Band, Bass – Andy Robbins Band, Drums – Terry “The Animal” Russel Band, Guitar [Guitars] – Jamie Cramer, Michael Cutting Band, Lead Vocals – Steven Patrick Bass [Bass Overdubs] – Jerry Watts (tracks: 3) Coordinator [Artwork Coordination] – Roz Edited By [Digital Editing By] – Daniel Hersch Effects [Keyboard Effects] – Charles Meserole Engineer [Additional Engineering] – Bobby Salcedo, Dave Hackbarth Engineer [Drun Track Engineer] – John Hanlon Engineer [Overdub Engineer] – Charles Meserole Engineer [Second Engineer] – Brian Herbert, Chuck Rodriguez, Jeff Piergeorge Management [Managed By] – Daryn Hinton Mastered By – Bob Ludwig Mixed By – Joe Chiccarelli Photography By [CD Portrait Photos (b/w)] – Aaron Rapoport Photography By [Front Cover Photograph] – John Scarpati Photography By [Live Photograph of Steven Patrick] – Perry Cooper Photography By [Live Photographs] – Nigel Skeet Producer [Produced By] – David Zaffiro Technician [Drums By] – Ross Garfield
Companies, etc. Phonographic Copyright (p) – Word, Inc. Copyright (c) – Word, Inc. Manufactured By – Word, Inc. Produced For – Zaffiro Productions Published By – Most Triumphant Music Published By – Dayspring Published By – Barkloid Music Published By – Word Music Recorded At – Wayne Cook Studios Recorded At – Neverland Studios Recorded At – Mixing Lab B Recorded At – Pakaderm Studios Mixed At – Master Control, Burbank Edited At – DigiPrep Mastered At – Masterdisk
