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(c) 1995 Forefront Records
- Promise Man
- Mumbo Jumbo
- My World
- Rust
- Why Don't You Look Into Jesus
- Break It Down
- Cover Me
- Grind
- Love Conquers All
- Sand
Eric Wayne--Lead Vocals
Michael Cutting--Guitars, Mandolin, Backing Vocals
Scott Soderstrom--Guitars
Andy Robbins--Bass, Backing Vocals
Terry "Animal" Russell--Drums, Percussion
Additional Musicians:
Dennis Hall--Drums
Ken Lewis--Drums
Christian rock and metal have always been accused of trend-chasing. "This band sounds like that band", and on and on. To my recollection, no band has had more fingers pointed at them, or accusations made, than Holy Soldier. Perhaps that was with good reason, at least on the surface. Holy Soldier was a band straight out of the Los Angeles/Hollywood hair metal scene featuring a polished sound, a solid stage show, and a large fan base. After proving to be extremely successful on the Sunset Strip, with many people arguing that Holy Soldier successfully supplanted Stryper as the best Christian band to come out of that scene, the band was signed to Myrrh Records and their debut, self-titled album was released in 1990. Two years later, the band's second album, Last Train, was released, again on Myrrh Records, with both albums solidly establishing the quintet as a polished melodic metal band, easily on par with their secular counterparts from the hair metal scene. Of course, we all know that scene disintegrated with the arrival of grunge and, coupled with what Myrrh considered to be lackluster sales for Last Train, Holy Soldier lost their contract...and then their lead singer...again. Refusing to cave in and fold, the band brought Eric Wayne back into the fold as their lead singer (he had replaced Stephen Patrick at one time previously), moved to Nashville, and signed to Forefront Records. It is at this point that the trend-chasing accusations become prominent, as in 1995 the band released their third album, the down-tuned, plodding, bottom-heavy rocker Promise Man, to wide-spread acclaim...and condemnation. With Wayne's much lower, throatier vocals, and the darker vibe of the music as a whole, the grunge tag was slapped on Promise Man in a hurry, and with good reason, as this album was about as grungy as anything in the Christian scene at the time.
Whether the band was truly chasing trends or not, Promise Man was never going to satisfy the hair metal fan's thirst for more music, as there was legitimately nothing on this record that bore much of a resemblance to the sound of the Strip. Sure, there are several really cool, soulful guitar solos, with "Mumbo Jumbo" being a perfect example, but there was no flash, no glitz or glam to be found on this album. That being said, the interplay between Cutting and Soderstrom is phenomenal throughout the abum, its just done in a different key and chord progression than hair metal enthusiasts desired. Instead of trying to make what ended up becoming Patrick's solo Red Reign album, Holy Soldier went after a sound more akin to mid-tempo Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, and especially Stone Temple Pilots, which was fine by me, as I was really into those bands, as well. I was never as strict about drawing genre lines as a lot of my musical friends were, and If I liked it, I liked it. I was an open fan of a lot of grunge bands, and still am to this day.
I'm sure a lot of fans from the first two albums double-checked the name on the label...yep, says Holy Soldier...and even looked to see that former Bloodgood guitarist, David Zaffiro, was still producing the band, which he was. I can only imagine the flurry of skip button strikes there were as fans desperately transitioned from track to track, trying to find something familiar to hold on to. Try as they might, however, that version of the band was nowhere to be found on this album. I'm not going to lie and tell you that I wasn't taken aback by the shift, or that I was an instant fan of this album, because I was not. I didn't instantly dismiss the record, however. I loved the punchier title track from the moment I heard it, and having previously heard Larry Norman's version of "Why Don't You Look Into Jesus", I was intrigued to hear what H5 was going to do to the song. I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised to hear the even darker take on a song that had already left a lot of Christians at a loss with lyrics that spoke openly about addiction, promiscuous sex, HIV (a lyrical change in keeping with the era), and alcoholism. True, it may seem difficult to go "darker" than Norman was on the original, but with the gritty, grungy musical vibe, and Wayne's song-perfect vocals, this track is an absolute highlight of the record!
Elsewhere, people who skipped through the record missed out on the excellent "Rust", which features some great, bluesy slide guitar and vocals from Wayne that pull themselves from the lowest end of his range to a more tenor-based sound that perfectly suits the music. If I'm being honest, this is possiby my favorite track on the record, although it's difficult to argue against the title track or "...Look Into Jesus", or the album's closing track (more on that in a minute) as top song material, also.
"Break It Down" continues the trend of great, down-tuned tracks, and it is here and on the next track that I think a Soundgarden comparison is pretty easy to make. Wayne's vocals are lower than those used by Chris Cornell, but the vibe of the track and the use of the backing vocals is definitely reminiscent of Superunknown-era Soundgarden, at least to my ear. "Cover Me" also falls into this category, as well, and it is here that Wayne sounds the most like Cornell. The staccato rhythm guitar and simple, kick-snare-kick-snare drum attack on the verse sections really set-off the more complicated, more aggressive pre-chorus and chorus sections, where Wayne's soaring vocals really stand out. There's a cool, effects-laden guitar solo here that really needs to be heard to be appreciated, but don't go looking for a soaring fret run like you might hear on Holy Soldier or Last Train, as that is not the goal or approach of this solo. This is another track that definitely vies for the best of the bunch title.
"Grind" is the fastest track on the record, and it hits pretty hard overall, as the band takes on a Stone Temple Pilots vibe here. Short and punchy, "Grind" stands starkly in contrast to the ballad, "Love Conquers All", which drops next. While "...Look Into Jesus" is definitely a slower track, it is not a ballad in the same sense as "Love Conquers All" is. Layered backing vocals and a really nice melody line provide a strong support for Wayne's powerful moan on this, the most uplifting song on the record. It isn't a stretch to hear the old version of Holy Soldier tackling this track with a power ballad approach and Stephen Patrick's much higher-register vocals, but even as great as I imagine that would have sounded, I can't envision it having a stronger impact.
"Sand" closes the album with an very cool, mid-tempo Stone Temple Pilots-meets-Led Zeppelin style that is definitely right in the wheelhouse of this version of the band. If you question the Zep mention, all you have to do is hear the "Kashmir"-esque vibes of the guitar lines as the track rocks its way to a conclusion. Elsewhere, there's a false finish less than a minute and a half into the song, and the closest thing to a melodic metal guitar solo on the record can be found at about the 2:15 mark, but other than that, this is a nice, gritty rocker that would have slotted in perfectly on 90s rock radio...or on SiriusXM's Lithium channel today. Again, this is a track that I find myself drawn to repeat pretty much every time I pop this CD in. Musically, this is probably the album at its peak, and "Sand" is right there fighting for best of the bunch, in my opinion, even if it is give the distinction of album closer.
I know this album was a shock for many, if not all, Holy Soldier fans when it was released nearly 30 years ago. I know a lot of people skipped through it and then tossed it aside or traded it in at a used CD shop. And I get it; I was stunned, too. After all, I was a kid who had the self-titled album's cover as one of the main posters on my college dorm wall, and I deeply love those first two, Patrick-fronted albums. But as I gave this album more spins, I first grew to appreciate, then to really like, what Holy Soldier was bringing to the table now. I am curious how the band combined the two styles in a live setting, especially with Wayne now fronting the band and sounding nothing like Patrick, but my guess is they leaned heavily on this new record and just dropped in the grittier, bluesier material from the first two records. Regardless, if you are among the many who gave this record no shot previously, you may find yourself pleasantly surprised if you give it a chance today. I mean, hey...it's easy to find on YouTube, Amazon Music, iTunes, etc., and I can pretty much guarantee you can find it for under $5 in the bargain bin at your local used CD shop.
Rating: Call it trendy grunge if you will, but I call it crankable! Nearly 30 years after its release, Promise Man still gets a 7.5!
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