Taker - It Is Finished (2014)

As a music fan, and a metal fan, I love to dig into the history of bands and find out where they came from.  I enjoy hearing early demo material from well-known bands, because it's often indicative of whether or not the band's musical prowess or abilities are their own, or whether their early records needed a lot of "studio magic" to make them sound good.  It's also interesting to hear demo material from bands that never quite got to that place where they got a record deal, so all that is available is studio demos, live recordings, basement tapes, etc.  Either way, an interesting historical perspective.

In the case of white metal band Taker, the latter is the case.  Taker never quite got off the ground, and as a result, all we have are demo recordings to understand where they were at.  Originating in Virginia, this band never got a record deal, and officially only 2 demo recordings exist with any level of distribution.  Thankfully, we have Roxx Productions to dig up recordings like these and make them more widely available to the underground music enthusiast like myself.  Not all recordings like this are going to be at a level of quality that warrants repeated listens, but thankfully, Taker is at least an interesting enough case to be worth checking out.

Taker plays the traditional American style of melodic, 1980's heavy metal sound.  There's a bit of NWOBHM influence here and there, with some fast riffing in songs like "He Is The Light" or "Living By Faith", and big, anthemic choruses that try and get a hook stuck in your head that you'll be singing long after the song is done playing.  As this is a collection of demo material, the quality varies from song to song, especially because much of this is likely tape transfers, so there is a bit lost in the analog-to-digital conversion.  In addition, there are a couple tracks where some damage to the tape(s) was apparent, as there are spots where the song sounds garbled or cuts out briefly.  This is to be expected from archival releases like this, but it's unfortunate that a better quality or less-played copy wasn't available for use.  Still, all things considered, it sounds pretty decent, and is in some ways a step up from some of the previous archive stuff Roxx did early on (like Eternal Ryte's demo material).

As expected with demo material, not everything here sounds fantastic, especially the first 4 or 5 tracks from the band's 1st demo and rehearsal tapes.  The guitars are crunchy and distorted enough, even on those tracks, so they get the job done, and you can tell the players have talent and have clearly rehearsed the material, because it's generally well-executed.  Things pick up near the middle of the CD when you get to the tracks that the band did for an Image Records session.  I could see Taker fitting well on the Image roster alongside Zion and Dreamer, but it never quite happened.  The recording quality steps up quite a bit from that point forward, and it helps give the material a bit more weight and presence.  You can also hear the consistency in performance between the early versions of "Open Your Heart" and "He Is The Light" between the 2 recordings as well.  Bass guitar is present more on the later tracks, and though standard for the music, sounds good given the time frame of the recordings.  Drumming is powerful and solid, and there are a few spots (especially in the re-record of "Yesterday, Today and Forever") where some studio wizardry gives the drums a bit of extra flair.

Lyrically, being from the 1980's, white metal, and following in the Barren/Neon Cross vein, you know what you're going to get here.  Unapologetic expression of love for and faith in Jesus Christ are the bread and butter here, and for the most part, it works well, except when things get a bit clumsy, like "The Measure" or "Look Into His Eyes".  But then metal lyrics from that era aren't known for being highly poetic, so this should be no surprise.  Vocally, Kevin Potter sticks out to me as the weak point of the band.  He can scream and hit higher notes, but there are times when I feel like he's just a bit flat, and other times when he dips into a-melodic territory in places where it doesn't make sense.  He just doesn't quite hit all the rights notes when it counts, which is something that might have been able to have been ironed out with more rehearsal, more studio time to get the right take, etc.  It's not a huge detriment, given that this is demo material, but it does detract somewhat from the songs.

Ultimately, this is going to be a release that is mostly of interest to hobbyists like myself who are interested in the history of "Christian metal".  If you're looking for the next Barren Cross, you won't find it here, but this is mostly a good listen from start to finish, minus a few embarrassing lyrical and vocal bits, and the fact that about a third of the material is repeated on the CD more than once.  The songs aren't overly memorable, though I did find myself humming the chorus of "Open Your Heart" a few times during the course of listening to this CD for the purposes of review.  This stuff would never have set the world on fire, but it does show a solid band that, with a little more practice and time, could have made a bigger impact.  Recommended for the collector and enthusiast.

60/100

For Today - Breaker (2010)

Every now and again a band comes along that is just captivating.  They're not the best in their genre, the most skilled, or the group that is lauded the most highly by their peers or fans, but when you go see them live, you just know it - they are the real deal.  There's nothing fake about them, no pretenses or anything getting in between the band and their fans, other than the usual obstacles (money for touring and recording, etc).  For Today is one of those bands.  They make good music, sure, but they're not the top metalcore band around, or even the best or most talented band on their label (or former label, Facedown Records).  They are acclaimed in some ways, but their music is seen by some industry pundits and metalcore bashers as generic and uninspired.  How one could listen to their music and think it's "uninspired" is a mystery to me, but then I'm biased because I've been following the band since shortly before their Facedown debut was released, and have seen them live on 4 occasions.  "Uninspired" isn't a word I'd use to describe For Today in any stretch of the imagination.

For Today's inspiration is much more intense than many of their contemporaries, in that their undying devotion to God and Jesus Christ is what fuels their music, and with this record in particular, the spiritual warfare that is at work in the world today, with the battle for the souls of man being waged in the hearts and minds of people, especially the youth.  Now before you stop reading this review and accuse me of being a "bible thumper" or some such, just know that while I have faith in God and believe in Jesus Christ, I don't consider myself a "model Christian" by any means.  I have my own faults and shortcomings (don't we all?), and would in no way be qualified to pass judgment on anyone without examining myself first.  Having Christian faith isn't essential for the enjoyment of For Today, but it helps when you can connect with the lyrics because of the powerful connection the lyrics have with the material and with the players.

"Breaker" is the band's 3rd full-length album overall, and as of this review, their final release for Facedown Records.  This, like their 2nd album, is a concept record, of sorts.  The album's lyrics reflect the spiritual warfare going on, mostly from the perspective of the victorious Christian who is aware of and actively engaging in said conflict.  The spoken word bits are all excerpts of the poem "Breaker" by Jose Palos, and are voiced on the album by Jose himself, a nice touch.  These portions (with the exception of the final section, "The Breaker's Commision") all communicate the hopelessness, pain, fear, anxiety, and abuse that young people feel and experience in life.  These present as interesting contrasts to the bold declarations of spiritual fulfillment in most of the tracks, and make for a unique juxtaposition.  There are times when the poem and lyrics intersect, such as in "Arm the Masses" ("The frontlines are littered with the bodies of the unarmed!"), or "The Breaker's Encounter" where the writer recalls an earlier time of suffering and is now expressing hope and deliverance through Jesus.  Powerful stuff if you believe, and even if you don't, it makes for an interesting ride.

Musically, this is pretty monstrous and heavy metalcore going on.  Guitars are the heaviest they've been on a For Today release, in terms of sheer weight and crunchiness.  The band also uses a bit more texture here, by including more acoustic and clean guitars, and by having more chording here and there that takes them out of the "chugga chugga" metalcore realm and into more varied territory.  The inclusion of some more old-school hardcore punk bits (like in the fast, group-shout in the album's centerpiece, "Seraphim), the melodic "Breaker" interludes, and the continued use of varied time signatures and semi-technical dual-guitar leads helps continue to push the band's sound forward.  Bass guitar is a welcome sound here as well - rather than being totally buried in the mix, you can actually hear what's going on and while not virtuosic, certainly provides the necessary element to the mix.  Drumming remains a strong point in For Today's musical arsenal.  David Morrison isn't the best drummer in metal, but he knows when to go full-bore with double-bass and fast rhythms, and when to slow things down for effect, as well as adding nice cymbal flourishes and interesting fills often enough to let you know he's contributing to the overall package.  Mattie sounds great here, providing an impassioned vocal performance that he hasn't matched on record thus far.  He provides even greater range than before, with a combination of deep growls, mid-level throaty yells, higher pitched raspy vocals (in that Dan Weyandt, Jeff Walker vein), as well as adding some more hardcore-styled shouts and bits that seem to move from spoken word (or shouted) to hardcore to more gruff vocal in the same breath.  Jose's spoken-word performance is also passionate and well done, as are the clean vocals, gang shouts, and the big chorus of voices on closer "The Breaker's Commission".

One thing I'll say that I don't like here is the overuse of 808 bass drops.  I love a good breakdown here and there, but I thought "Portraits" was a bit too judicious with the use of 808s.  "Breaker" steps that up a notch and includes a few too many of them for my tastes, even as a long-time seasoned fan of the metalcore style.  I just think that when the bass drops are so intense that it sounds too distorted, even on CD, it's time to peel it back a bit.  When my nice Infinity sound system in my van is screaming for mercy if I crank this album up too far, it tells me that this is perhaps over the top.  Some of the riffs are more repetitive than in the past as well, which is less an issue for me, since I understand that metalcore is as much about the rhythmic aspect as it is the riffs.  However, I would encourage the band in the writing process for their next album to bring in some of the melodic sensibility from their debut, and combine that with the crushing heaviness that "Breaker" brings to the table and they'll have a winning combination.  Also, with only 8 actual structured songs, the album is a bit short on content.  This is less detrimental in this case, because I feel the overall set of songs is stronger than that of its predecessor, "Portraits".  But however visceral, it still makes for a short listen.

At the end of the day, this is quite possibly For Today's most accomplished release.  I still really love their debut, and "Portraits" stands as a great album in its own right, but with "Breaker" I feel the band is moving in the right direction by making their music even heavier, and by continuing to expand their palette with new elements and textures.  I wouldn't recommend this as an introduction to the band if you're unfamiliar with them, as the concept of the record may come across a little weird, so I still tell people to start with either "Ekklesia" or "Portraits" first.  For established fans of the band, this album will be a must-have, and has received a LOT of play from me over the last year.  I look forward to their Razor and Tie debut, as are most of their fans, and recommend this wholeheartedly to the For Today faithful.

86/100

Under the Sun - Man of Sorrow (2010)

I enjoy albums that have range.  As much as I like a good album that's highly consistent from start to finish, I also enjoy albums that have some degree of experimentation or just "toying around" with the style to try new things and do something a bit outside the norm.  You can write, perform, and play a style to perfection, but if you're just aping everyone else in your chosen field, you're only going to go so far.  Bands who do things differently, even if they don't tread off the beaten path too far, generally are well-remembered for being different and for taking the road less traveled in order to put their own stamp on a particular genre.  If their debut is any indication, Under the Sun may just be remembered for this approach.

That's not to say that there isn't plenty of "follow the leader" kind of stuff going on here, as there is.  Under the Sun works very much under the framework of the doom/stoner metal vibe here, having both a reliance upon the early 80's Trouble-esque doom metal formula, as well as a penchant for a heavy, fuzzed-out distortion and melodic sense that in some ways recalls early Black Sabbath, but often more in spirit than in sound.  The thing that sets them apart is that there are other influences and touchstones at work here, some subtle, some not so subtle, that give an interesting "blended" feel to the band's sound that gives it that little something extra to differentiate them from the hordes of doom bands that have come and gone since the early 1980's post-Ozzy Black Sabbath explosion took place.

The 1st track "Stride", despite suffering from some editing issues (which the band eluded to in an interview on Untombed.com), is an interesting slice of doom metal with two traditional doom metal bits interspersed with some lighter, more 70's-influenced clean guitar parts that bookend a nice rootsy sounding doom number.  "Divinity" has a different vibe to it, which has a real heavy 70's fuzz vibe and almost sounds like an homage to Fu Manchu at times.  Indeed, this track could have been on their "The Action Is Go" album and fit nicely among those tracks.  Both "Bruised" and "To Sleep With Anger" are meaty traditional doom metal tracks with plenty of muscle, while "Joy" is a unique song with some nice clean guitar riffing and a lazier pace that is a nice addition to the album.  "Forgiveness" is another clean guitar song with an interesting sort of alt-rock vibe that hearkens back to a late 60's, early 70's kind of lazy psychedelia that I like.  It almost sounds like the lighter, trippier stuff Trouble may have done if they'd have pursued a more psych-rock direction after Plastic Green Head.  The title track is a reading of Isaiah 53 over more trippy, psychedelic rock until around 3 minutes, then the last 4 minutes is a bit of a slow burn of down-tempo, lightly psychedelic rock.

Clean guitars sound great, with the right amount of reverb, and distorted guitars have a real heavy "fuzz" feeling to them.  They don't crunch, necessarily, but are sufficiently heavy when they need to be, lending a real weight to the heavier songs.  Bass work blends in nicely with the mix, but is audible when it needs to be, such as in the songs where there is less (or no) distortion in use.  Overall, the bass guitar sounds good here, never overpowering anything, but being in harmony with the rest of the sounds.  Drum work is good as well, dynamic and varied when need be, always serving the songs with just the right beats, breaks, and touches here and there.  Despite the somewhat minimalist approach (being just a 3-piece), there is enough variety throughout to show more range than what one might expect up front.

Vocally, Dennis Cornelius reminds me a lot of Dale Thompson from Bride.  Not the mad, screaming Dale of Bride's early metal days, or the highly melodic yet still screaming Dale from the mid-period hard rock stuff, but from the later alt-rock stuff the band did, like "Drop", "The Jesus Experience", or "Oddities".  Dennis keeps things in the lower register, never venturing far from the baritone range.  His voice struck me as a bit odd upon first listen, but subsequent spins have proven that he fits the material well.  He's not a great singer, by any stretch, but he gets the job done and sounds good in context.  Lyrically, the band moves from subtle expression of faith and general positivity to full-blown Christian overtones and scripture in the final couple tracks.  Fans of doom metal in general are accustomed to "religious" lyrics, so this will be no change for the initiated.  Fans who enjoyed Trouble's early quasi-Christian lyrical approach will find this to be similarly affecting.

So what's the verdict?  The obvious issue mentioned before is the editing, which isn't necessarily the band's fault, but does bring down the score a few notches because it does detract from the listening experience somewhat.  This is most evident in "Stride", though the title track does have a bit too long a pause between the spoken word section and the portion of the song that closes the album.  Some kind of logical segue there, and in Stride would have made a lot more sense.  Honestly, that's the album's biggest flaw right there.  Some might say the disc is a bit too heavy on the lighter stuff (sorry, pun intended) and not enough muscular doom metal peppers the disc.  While I agree to an extent, I wouldn't say it's a detriment to the album on the whole, just something that listeners should be aware of, that the album is at least 50% heavier fuzzed out doom riffing, and around 50% quiet psychedelia.  It's not an issue for me, but some might find it less appealing.  Otherwise, this all sounds good and should make a fine addition to the doom/stoner metal fan's collection.  It's my understanding, as of this writing, that there is to be a vinyl release of this album to include 3 tracks not on the CD version.  I'm hoping that this vinyl edition will fix the editing and give the band a chance to remedy "Stride" and possibly "Man of Sorrows" so they flow a little better, and I look forward to hearing the other tracks.  Either way, it's easy for me to recommend this CD to any doom-heads out there looking for new tunes that will challenge their perception of what doom metal is and can be.

75/100

Letter 7 - Follow the Light (2008)

 

Once in a while an album comes along that just "sticks".  I'm not talking about one that the mainstream eats up, or that is fodder for mass public consumption.  I'm talking about a much more personal kind of thing.  Sometimes, you buy an album and the more you listen to it, the more you like it.  Regardless of whatever flaws it has, it just really "sticks" with you and you seem to enjoy it all the more.  Even when you don't listen to it for a while, when you come back to it, that album is again fresh and new, even when you've spun it countless times before.  Albums like this are precious, because no matter how much you listen to them, they're still likable and easy to come back to.  This is a quality often lost in the "here today, gone tomorrow" pop music world - the days of big sales on albums (in the truest sense of the word) are over.

However, the recent shift in the music industry due to the advent of the internet has given much of the power back to the artists, if they're willing to work a little harder or focus on their own affairs.  Through a website, Myspace, Facebook, Reverb Nation, or other type of site, bands can interact directly with fans and sell their product direct.  No longer are bands forced to give up 35% of t-shirt and merch sales to labels, promoters, and other folks - bands have a choice to handle that themselves at their shows.  What's the use of a platinum album when you only have 4 points on the record?  Your band is only going to earn $40,000 for that album you spent toiling in the studio over for 4 months, and that take is probably already eaten up in studio fees and promotional costs because the labels won't generally pay for it.  Now bands can sell direct to fans, hire competent producers to make a low-cost but still quality product and reap most of the profit.  A band can make a lot more money selling 1,000 copies of a CD when they can take home some 80% of the sale price.  So while this shift has occurred, regardless, there are still bands out there who get it right and make great albums, regardless of the music buying climate.  Letter 7 is one of those bands.

"Follow the Light" is the band's 2nd album, coming just one year after their debut "Salt the Earth".  While the debut was a strong record with good vocal performances, good songs, and a reasonably good recording, it didn't quite reach the heights that a band performing a more classic hard rock/metal style should reach to make you want to reach for that record versus an actual classic.  Having said that, "Follow the Light" does everything better than the debut, and should give discriminating listeners reason enough to look into this band above and beyond the classics they're used to spinning on a regular basis.  This release is chock-full of hard rocking melodic metal that hearkens back to the "glory days" of metal in the mid-late 80's, and yet doesn't feel entirely dated.

One thing that I really like about this release is the guitar tone.  It just has that nice balance between metal crunch and melodic quality.  It cuts enough to where you know this is a metal band, but not to the point of beating you over the head with just how heavy they are.  This is an essential quality to any melodic metal band, and these guys do it well.  Guitar sounds are all very well done here, with nice sounding clean guitars, crunchy distorted guitars, and great ripping solos that have just enough attitude to counter the flashiness.  Bass guitar is a bit more audible here than in many metal releases, in part because of the extremely clean and well-proportioned production.  While bass isn't doing anything outstanding or out of the ordinary, it does the job and makes for the right mix with the rest of the instrumentation.  Drum work is quite good, though nothing will "knock your socks off".  Instead, the drums become part of the musical landscape, adding the right touches here and there and never taking over.  There are a couple spots where the drums feel a bit "stiff" like the cymbal pattern could have been played a bit more "loosely" (the high-hat riding on "Lifeline" is a good example), but otherwise this is very competent and well-played work.

Vocally, this CD is a couple notches above its predecessor.  Not that "Salt of the Earth" wasn't a solid release, but this just takes it to the next level.  It's not that the previous vocalist didn't sing the songs well, but Steve Young fits the band's sound and material better.  The previous singer executed the melodies well, but his voice wasn't as well-suited to this melodic metal sound as Steve's is.  He sings with authority and sounds great doing it, but doesn't go out of his way to emulate any of the traditional metal vocal heroes - he retains his own voice and sound while still meeting many of the metal vocal touchstones fans like to hear, such as the high-pitched screams, smooth ballad crooning, and occasionally gritty bits for added effect.  I didn't hear Steve go off-pitch at all during the course of the CD, which is a major plus, though there were a handful of spots where it sounded as though he could have been reaching for those notes.  Still, a worthy vocal performance.

On the negative side (or the positive side, depending on how you look at it), the lyrics are a tad heavy-handed in spots.  As a Christian myself, this doesn't generally bother me.  There's room in my mind for the really obtuse lyrics that hint at God, the "turn or burn" lyrics, and everything in between.  Regular metal listeners who aren't believers in the Bible may turn their noses up here, and that's a shame.  Steve's vocal performance and the music played here is good enough for anyone to love this CD, regardless of lyrical content.  For those who love bold, up-front Christianity in their lyrics, there will be much to like here.  Having said that, as with the vast majority of traditional metal bands espousing a Christian faith, there are moments of lyrical clumsiness and awkwardness.  I would say, however, that even this area is an improvement over the debut.

As of this writing, I understand that Steve Young is no longer with the band.  That disappoints me, because he has a great voice and brought so much to this album.  I am hopeful the band will find the right fit in a vocalist who can bring the same level of talent (or greater) that Steve displayed, and get back on track to record another record.  There's so much to like about this band, that if they tightened up their songwriting and lyrics even more, and had an even stronger vocal performance, they could be contenders for having a metal community largely indifferent about "Christian metal" think twice about writing them off.  As it stands, this is a quality band, a quality album, and something that's easy for me to recommend to the music fan who either misses the heyday of metal, or perhaps never left.

80/100

Bride - Snakes in the Playground (1992)

This is it...the mother lode. Even if you weren't familiar with any Christian hard rock or metal in the early 90's, it's hard to ignore releases like this. Bride made waves in the industry with this hard-hitting record. After moving away from a decidedly 80's American metal sound with the previous record "Kinetic Faith", Bride cranks up the volume on this one to play what could be considered a mix of metal & hard rock sounds. I would equate this record to Guns `n Roses' "Appetite For Destruction" or Skid Row's "Slave to the Grind" both in style & quality. Every track on here is killer, including the couple instrumental interludes and the short bluegrass diversion "Salt River Shuffle" with Greg Martin (legendary bluegrass player). From the anthemic opener "Rattlesnake", to the album's barn burner "Fallout", to the anti-abortion song "Picture Perfect", this album is a winner.

Lyrically, Dale Thompson is in fine form here as well. "Picture Perfect" opens with the line "Coat-hanger alley where the doctors work cheap" - an obvious allusion to the early days of abortions before they were legalized. "Love, Money" talks about gang violence in a very intelligent manner, and "Would You Die For Me" is an interesting look at greed and how it affects us versus sacrifice & the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made for mankind on the cross, without being heavy-handed or overly preachy. Guitarist Troy Thompson is also in fine form here, turning out some tasty riffage, and some nice solos. Troy has never been a power-house soloist; rather, his solos are mostly written to accent the songs. They do that & more here, where all the solos fit very well into the songs.

Bottom line is, if you don't already have this CD in your Christian music collection & you enjoy hard rock in the least, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? This is probably one of my top 25 all-time favorite Christian rock/metal CDs, & one that I am forever grateful for. As far as I'm aware, the only way to get your hands on this CD (other than buying it used) is to purchase directly from the band (http://www.bridepub.com/brideord.htm). I don't believe the album is in print any more through Star Song, but the band probably has a few copies yet to sell. In any event, PLEASE go to Bride's website & buy it. They have it priced at only $14, which is a good deal for a still-sealed copy of a 15-year old magnum opus that hasn't been in print for a while.

9.5/10