Deliverance
Intense Live Series Vol. I
Reviewed by Doug Van Pelt
This new live EP series is a cool little idea by Frontline. It's definitely a collector's item for fans of bands like Deliverance. As long as this "specialty" attitude is taken into account when purchasing this album, there'll be no letdown. This is not intended to be a new Deliverance album, nor the "live in concert" album we may see from the band someday. What we have here is 28 minutes and 15 seconds worth of "live in the studio" material. Some of the material here is real hot. The "I can't wait to hear this" award goes to the lead-off track--the cover of Stryper's Surrender (one of my all-time fav Stryper tunes). It's a real cool version showing Jimmy's vocal capabilities well. After this song comes the sparse sound in the lacking rendition of No Love. The bass sounds fat, but the mid-range is kinda thin. It sounds as if the band was struggling through this take. This Present Darkness suffers from weak drum sounds. The first Stay of Execution excerpt we hear is real funny, in that it gives us privy to their mistake, but how many times do you wanna hear this? Too bad you can't erase it from your CD after the first pass. The complete version we hear next is good and solid; not weak like the previous two tunes. This new song benefits from the looseness of this setting. It shows just how heavy this song is. It kills. The Call, one of the greatest speed metal tunes of all time, is featured here in all its heaviness, but the drums sound small in some spots and some of the dual guitar parts don't mesh properly. Mike Phillips' impromptu guitar solo is fast 'n' cool. It's also a bit sloppy in places. No Time starts off with a classic arpeggio heavy metal solo. It's an aggressive version of this killer tune. The new Intense live series: I want to own every volume that comes out, but I realize that, like this one, they aren't musical masterpieces on tape. They're special enough to be glad you can hear 'em, but contain some flaws that you wish you didn't have to.