Hallelujah
Oh Lordy! Lordy! Lordy! Lordy! For someone who is a bit of an atheist, I've always had a bit of a penchant for Christian Rock and Metal Bands. Only the very best I might add. It started with Joshua who produced some might fine albums in 'Surrender' and the awesome 'Intense Defense', and grew to offshoots like Shout with the mega prolific Ken Tamplin, and my all time fave Jesus lovin' outfit who are cheesier than a parmesan factory, the Isiah preachin' STRYPER!!
Christian rock is still a power in rock circles, but nowhere near like the heady days of the mid to late 80's. All the aforementioned are still playing in some form or another, which is testimony to the music and their messaage. Which brings me onto........
......King James. Formed out of the ashes of another Christian band called Whitecross. Their fans follow one of two versions, the Rex Carroll Whitecross, and the post Carroll Whitecross. In the early 90's he jumped ship and formed another band which in his eyes he could musically develop, and King James was born. Styper was on hold and he managed to recruit bassist Tim Gaines and drummer Robert Sweet, which lets face it was one Hell (sorry Christians) of a coup. Completing the jigsaw was vocalist Jimi Barnett (ex-Sacred Fire, Vicktor). Honestly, they couldn't have picked a worse time. Grunge was at is peak, Christian Rock was a niche market as it was, without this life changing genre hanging over most forms of music, with record companies dropping bands like proverbial hot potatoes
Mega groups don't tend to last long and such was the case with King James. Four years later and they released 'The Fall'. This version released now, a mere 13 years later by Retroactive Records, is in receipt of a much needed facelift, a full blown remaster, and all new artwork. It was originally released in Europe, and then twice in the US, and has been out of print for almost ten years. I digressed. Like I said, the 90's were ruled by Grunge and luckily this is where King James had a bit of a brainstorm. The fell in with the grunge sound, so much so, you would think that you were listening to the aggressive guitar sounds of Alice In Chains, Soundgarden coupled with the doom laden riffs of Black Sabbath (Can I reference Sabbath in a Christian Rock review?)
Personally I thought I'd left grunge behind. I have a few decent albums by Temple of the Dog, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Nirvana etc, and it was a bit of a surprise to be dumped back into my 20s listening to "The Fall". King James is far removed from the bands I listed in this Christian Rock category, "The Fall" is one of the heaviest and most aggressive guitar sounds in Christian Metal, all killers and no fillers. Thankfully not a single Christian ballad is present that ruined and peppered many an 80's CR band
Rex and Jimi can thank Retroactive for doing a great number on this album. Its fresh, heavy as a heavy thing without being monotonous or predictable and is a credit to their talents. Hopefully many will follow and buy this once hard to get nugget of an album. A rare breed indeed, a Christian Rock album, with a grunge-laden, no compromise attitude that blew away most of their peers at the time. Well worth a listen to see what all the original fuss was about.