Siloam
Sweet Destiny
Reviewed by Doug Van Pelt
Here's a classy melodic hard rock album that can stand up to the world's music standards. These Canadian rockers have really put in a fine band performance, which can be expected if you knew the trouble drummer Brian Lutes went through to recruit this band. He had a horse ranch that he sold in order to pay for flying out potential musicians from all over the U.S. and Canada for auditions. He wanted to do it right the first time and, by golly, he did! "Here I Am Again" and "Miss Lizzy" are sassy hard rockers that start the album off with a bang. "Here I Am Again" has a hook as big as Texas that grabs the listener right off. Rip-roaring rockers like "Miss Lizzy" and "Lethal Lady" have enough guts to rock the metalhead, and that Siloam touch of Bon Jovi-like commercialism to really win a broad radio-raised audience. The guitar work on the disk shows teamwork and cooperation with the song structures, but also impresses when it's time to stand alone or fill a lead spot. The keyboards tackle a varied sound approach, which keeps the music fresh and top-notch. Sometimes it swells with melodic feeling, and other times it's jamming with a Hammond organ sound. When it comes to music like this, it requires a vocalist whom the music can rely on. Lee Guthrie proves himself as the man for the job with ballads like "Child Of Mine" and "Decent Souls". He shows lots of voice control and diversity. He does a good job of getting low and melodic, like Dale Thompson, in "After The Fire", and gets a little raspy/angry in "Eastern Skies" and "Deceiver". His voice matches well with the great BGV's of the title track. This album is good. Producer Frank Levin did a swell job. A lot of thought went into the arrangements and studio "extras." This album and this band deserves the attention that they will get. With a solid debut like this, their destiny is indeed bound to be sweet.