Holy Soldier - "Promise Man"

Holy Soldier - Promise Man
1995, Forefront

1. Promise Man
2. Mumbo-Jumbo
3. My World
4. Rust
5. Why Don't You Look Into Jesus?
6. Break It Down
7. Cover Me
8. Grind
9. Love Conquers All
10. Sand

Time and fate kind of conspired to make sure Promise Man wasn't enjoyed quite to the extent that it should have been. It came out smack dab in the middle of the Nineties when the alternative revolution was in full swing. Former vocalist Stephen Patrick, the charismatic - if somewhat eccentric acting (at least on stage) was replaced with Eric Wayne. He's got a lower register than Patrick but fits the band's new style. Speaking of which, it's not the commercial hard rock/metal they started out with. As befitting the times it's more alternative hard rock. While long time fans might disavow this album as a sell-out, I really enjoy it. No, it doesn't sound like old Holy Soldier. It sounds more like...King's X. Not lying. There's some pretty serious King's X worship going on here, especially in tracks like "Break It Down" and "Cover Me." They've definitely got the whole drop-d thing mastered. There's also a cover of Larry Norman's "Why Don't You Look Into Jesus?" that was on a tribute album many years back. The band was signed to Forefront, which if you'll remember was the home of hip-hoppers like DC Talk and E.T.W. I guess Forefront wanted to branch out? Anyway, far away from the time it was released I can say it's a good little album. I like it just as much as Last Train.

Oh, and since we haven't done my weird associations game here we go. I got this for Christmas in '95 along with the Super Nintendo masterpiece, Chrono Trigger. So those two things have been linked my entire life.

Useless Fact: Well...I guess more people enjoyed the album than I thought. It won a Dove Award for best hard rock song, "Promise Man."

Holy Soldier - "Last Train"

Holy Soldier - Last Train
1992/2017, Roxx Productions

1. Virtue and Vice
2. Crazy
3. Hallow's Eve
4. Gimmie Shelter
5. Love Is On the Way
6. Dead End Drive
7. Tuesday Mourning
8. Fairweather Friend
9. Last Train

For some reason I never cared for this band's debut. I have absolutely no reason as to why, I just didn't. Last Train on the other hand is really good. I think the production is a bit less metallic... more earthy if that makes any sense at all, and I think the songs are better. Stephen Patrick's voice is unique - you can just hear the emotion he puts into his performances. My copy is the recently released Roxx Productions edition. Unfortunately, as is the case with many Roxx reissues, there are no liner notes or lyrics. So... someday I'll still have to find an old Myrrh records copy.

Here's a funny story: My cousin and I went to see these guys with some friends (the same place I saw Seraiah, actually) and their set was... in a word... hilarious. Vocalist Stephen Patrick sauntered and pranced around the stage all limp-wristed (literally!). Picture Captain Jack Sparrow singing Christian rock songs. Yeah... his mannerisms were so weird that my mother and aunt had to excuse themselves from the auditorium specifically so they could laugh until they cried. Their drummer was awesome though. He did this amazing solo where he was using those giant red plastic baseball bats to beat on the toms and his gong. That was definitely the best part of that show.

Useless Fact: The band took some guff for covering the Stones "Gimmie Shelter." "Fairweather Friend" is about the band being misquoted in a magazine. After this disc, Stephen Patrick left Holy Soldier so the band replaced him and released Promise Man.