Fear Not (2017 Reissue)
Yeah, I’m one of those old fashioned weirdos who still buys CDs. It’s only 6 days into the new year and I’ve already got three new additions to the collection…
Fear Not (Roxx Records) is a reissue of the long out of print, ridiculously hard to find 1993 debut by this Christian hard rock band who were similar to Skid Row or Tesla. I don’t usually like when reissues change the cover art work but I have to say this new cover is an improvement over the original, which had a paisley/flowery/hippy dippy vibe to it that didn’t match the music at all.
Revolution Highway (Frontiers Records) is Babylon A.D.’s first new album in more than fifteen years and it’s solid stuff. I’ve been a fan of this band since I saw them blow the Sea Hags off the stage at L’amour in Brooklyn way back in 1989. Derek Davis’ voice sounds like it hasn’t aged a day in all those years. I was a bit disappointed to see that four of these songs were re-treads of old ’80s demo tracks that have already been released (on 2006’s In The Beginning… archive disc) but I would imagine that most people missed out on them the first time around so it makes sense that they’d appear here.
Babylon A.D., Revelation Highway
Back on the Lash (Cargo Records) is the newest disc from Warrior Soul, who’ve been one of my favorite bands since the early 90s. Led by the legendary (in his own mind at least) Kory Clarke, the politically-charged rabble rousers have gotten rawer and more punk influenced over the years, which is a good thing because Clarke’s voice has degraded severely during that time – he sounds like Lemmy’s grandkid nowadays. I doubt he could pull off the soaring vocals of ’92’s Salutations From the Ghetto Nation anymore but for drunken, kick-yer-ass party rockers like “I Get Fucked Up” on the new disc, he suits the material just fine.
Warrior Soul, Back on the Lash
These three are a good start to my 2018 collecting and hopefully there will be many more finds to come in the new year. Now if you’ll excuse me, I got some serious listening to do. Happy hunting to my fellow CD junkies!
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