Various Artists
East Coast Metal
Reviewed by Doug Van Pelt
This album is a diverse collection of several different metal sounds: Apostle gives us a neo-classical/ wailing vocalist sound; Rage of Angels furnishes a commercial yet on the edge fun-metal sound; Believer thrashes out some speed metal; Taker offers both a melodic metal ballad and a straight-ahead metal anthem; Second Chance gives us a taste of gritty, decibel-busting power metal a la Saint or Judas Priest; The Lead imparts a taste of punk metal; and Arsenal serves two helpings of female heavy rock with lots of hooks. The top cut has to be "Reason to Rock" by R.O.A. It's their second appearance on a compilation album...and they haven't even released a full-length album yet! It's a double-guitar attack with sassy vocals in a Cinderella or Motley Crue vein. Danny Mariano's vocals are crisp. Let's face it, this band has one of the sounds in Christian metal. The double bass drums and cymbal smashes are mixed in great with a tight rhythm and fluid leads. Taker, one of my favorite unsigned bands, put a fresh recording of "Yesterday, Today, and Forever" on here. It's very nice, but I actually prefer the old version on the demo that has a good double guitar lead at the end. "Living by Faith" is a hard-driving anthem which includes members of Second Chance shouting along in the chorus. This song features a fierce rhythm, but the vocals seem to get buried a bit. Believer becomes the third band to put Christian thrash on vinyl with "The Chosen". It starts off with a beautiful classical guitar riff before charging into an ear-splitting, snare-smashing rhythm. The lead break here is tasty. Apostle's debut here is exciting to see. This trio is tight. Arsenal puts on what's probably the best performance for a female vocalist in Christian hard rock in "Message of Love". It'll be good to hear more from them. It's another real joy to see Second Chance finally get their chance to record on vinyl. "The Blazing Wasteland" is a heavy, hard-driving song. Many thanks go to Regency for the insight and initiative to go after these "not underground for long" bands. Their only problem may be meeting the demand to sign most of these bands.