{"id":16022,"date":"2025-10-16T19:36:55","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T23:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/heavensmetalmagazine.com\/?p=16022"},"modified":"2025-10-17T18:19:37","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T22:19:37","slug":"feature-songs-of-remembrance-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/heavensmetalmagazine.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/16\/feature-songs-of-remembrance-part-two\/","title":{"rendered":"Feature: Songs of Remembrance (Part Two)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is part Two, but if you missed Part One here’s a brief refresher!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve never been a lyric guy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that I have your attention please understand I realize lyrics are important otherwise we just have instrumental music, right? Honestly for the most part of my life I\u2019ve only cared about the riff, the barrage of power chords, the vocal melody that leads to the hook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alas without a vocal melody (that\u2019s where those pesky lyrics come in) many songs would be lost. No payoff, no anthem no HOOK to get you to listen again and again.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All that being said, this article is about those WORDS that are put to music. More importantly, how those words impacted me in some of the darkest times of my life. I can honestly say that the Holy Spirit used these specific tracks in times of doubt, in times of desert wandering, in times of loss, in times of divorce (which might as well say death, because the destruction of a relationship is a death in its own right.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And honestly I hope you don\u2019t mind that I\u2019m gonna bare my soul at this point in this article.  Without some life context the songs themselves are just bits of musical fluff, whimsical thoughts attached to endearing melodies that may or may not have importance. Truly only in the eye of the beholder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joshua 4:6-7<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet this be a sign among you, so that when your children ask later, saying, \u2018What do these stones mean to you?\u2019  then you shall say to them, \u2018Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.\u2019 So these stones shall become a memorial<\/strong> to the sons of Israel forever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: https:\/\/bible.knowing-jesus.com\/Joshua\/4\/7<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the same way there are songs that through the decades have become my \u201cstones\u201d or \u201crocks\u201d of remembrance. However when I first discovered the deep meaning for me in these songs, I wasn\u2019t expecting it. I really wasn\u2019t, again I\u2019ve really never been a \u2018lyrics guy\u2019\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t say that so much anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me introduce you to 12 songs that impacted me and drew me closer to the Lord, or at least reminded me in a personal way that the Lord was still with me. Even if I really thought I\u2019d been left on the heap of discarded refuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the way these aren\u2019t in any particular order. There isn\u2019t one song more important than another. With that thought let me also include here that there are a few songs THAT ARE NOT METAL.  Heck one of them doesn\u2019t fit in the rock genre at all, with that being said don\u2019t get your panties in a wad there is plenty of crushing metal encouragement to go around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Track  #7<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rez – Rain Dance from 1988s \u201cSilence Screams\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1988 was an exciting time for me on the surface. Writing for White Throne Magazine, I was also a roadie setup tear down gear for one Rick Hunter of San Francisco Bay Area\u2019s Christian Metal band Soldier. So many things were happening at the time with Soldier. I really was part of that family and still have several deep connections there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Church, I attended a new church called Refuge in Castro Valley. It was a lot like Sanctuary in Hollywood. Actually right after the Metal Mardi Gras in 1987 Bob Beeman came north and met with quite a few of us about starting something in the Bay Area. Members of Soldier, Crossforce and many other interested parties met with Bob in a round table of sorts. If my memory serves, we all met in the home of Soldier drummer Al Whalen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway despite all of this exciting stuff something was missing within me. I felt like being in the desert spiritually. Honestly this type of thing has happened several times throughout my life, perhaps you have experienced that as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember praying often for the Lord to move in my life. Yet it seemed God was silent, was he really hearing me? Was there something within me that prevented God from answering me or was there too much noise in my life which blocked my ability to hear? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTalkin’ to myself<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ideas and images covered with dust<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Memories well-worn from constant use<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stained by loneliness and lust<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heaping on my heart abuse<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Somebody tell me, what’s the use?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Somebody tell me<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Somebody tell me, what’s the use?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seemingly I was being pulled in several directions as I would ask for guidance from many of my friends who had multiple theological persuasions left me a little confused. A lot confused\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The summer of 1988 and for the next several years California was in a drought (no surprise in 2025!!) and it really hadn\u2019t rained for months at this point. Regardless I was listening to this song in my car on the Nimitz Freeway Highway 880 down near Fremont I believe. I started praying as I drove, asking God once again to please move in my life.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as the lyrics of the song got to the end I continued to drive and pray\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLove, cold and wet against my skin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where do you end? How do you begin?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m so lost, in a world without Your breath<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Afraid of being touched without tenderness<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Needing Your fire, fearing Your flame<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Could I surrender, waiting for the rain?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Streaming rain, come on, rain<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lord, send Your rain, rain<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rain, rain, rain, oh\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I can tell you the Lord answered my prayer as it started to sprinkle on the windshield of my car. Not a lot, it was cloudy that day but several drops did appear and I was shocked (and back then it wasn\u2019t common to use your windshield wipers while driving to get someone to back off if following to close.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A coincidence? A reminder that God was with me? I\u2019ll take the later. Those things don\u2019t happen much in my life but when they do I will cling to them.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again I quote Matthew quoting the Old Testament \u201cA bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish\u2026\u201d  Matthew 12:20<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Resurrection Band Catalog there are actually quite a few songs forgotten by many remembered by few that speak to me in this way, Broken Promises from 1978s Awaiting Your Reply, Every Time It Rains from 1979\u2019s Rainbow\u2019s End, The Struggle from 1980\u2019s Colours to name a few.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n