Roxx Records with their continued tradition of reissuing unsigned classic Christian Metal bands. That is by placing a bands entire catalog of recorded material on CD in many cases for the first time, or the only time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Immediately bands such as Taker, Malachia, Crossforce, The Warning, Soldier come to mind. Granted Soldier did have a prior release 15 years ago, but their 2019 “Babylon and Beyond” was a thing of beauty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now Florida hard rock\/metal act Chariot gets the full treatment. Their two demo releases 1985\u2019s \u201cTell the World\u201d (never available commercially) and 1987\u2019s \u201cStep Into Light.\u201d According to the liner notes there were two more demo\u2019s recorded, however they were not included in this compilation. I also noticed their contribution to Regency Records \u201cUnderground Metal\u201d compilation album missing. Granted it was another version of the track \u201cStep into Light\u201d, but just being somewhat of a completist\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My own history with Chariot goes back to 1986 when I was putting out a little recorded tape I called \u201cThe White Metal Show.\u201d It was tape I put together through the tape trading underground and I played songs from unsigned and signed bands. Several years ago someone described it to me as \u201cthe first podcast.\u201d Anyway Chariot sent me a tape of their song \u201cTruth\u201d to play and it was and is an instant metal classic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chariot really sounds like a blend of 70s hard rock with 80s metal styling\u2019s. There are elements on \u201cTell the World\u201d that are almost prog like in the arrangements; just know all their songs live in the 3-5 minute area. The guitar work is quite impressive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It really is their follow up release \u201cStep Into Light\u201d where more heavy metal elements appear. The guitar here is more aggressive in tone. Personally I\u2019ve always been fan of this track fast and memorable. Paul Aviles vocals through out remind me of Guy Speranza of Riot (NY) fame. They\u2019re melodic but full of energy. Louis Filardo\u2019s guitar playing is frenetic and full of intent, just when you think it\u2019s out of control Louis pulls it back in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The drumming by Bruce Flemming is solid and locks in well with bass player Jim Poppodeas. The two of them provide a solid rhythm section holding it all together, the structure that delivers the goods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If memory serves \u201cStep Into Light\u201d was recorded at College for recording engineers. The class was broken into teams and each team was responsible for two tracks. Hence when you listen you can hear the differences in production quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I reviewed this demo 30+ years ago I wasn\u2019t very kind (to be 20 and full of ones self) however as I listen to this today there are many elements I really appreciate and find extremely enjoyable. This isn\u2019t \u201chair metal\u201d or \u201cspeed metal\u201d but melodic heavy metal with solid musicianship and some really great songs. Early Riot might not be a bad comparison. Heck even Triumph might be an apt descriptor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you aren\u2019t familiar with Chariot you\u2019d better grab one of these anthologies quickly before they are gone. This isn\u2019t just a nostalgia piece, but a release that should be embraced by fans of heavy metal and hard rock.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Roxx Records with their continued tradition of reissuing unsigned classic Christian Metal bands. That is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":6763,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1020],"tags":[1314,1315,770,138,733],"class_list":["post-6762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-chariot","tag-crossforce","tag-malachia-d21","tag-roxx-records","tag-soldier-d47"],"yoast_head":"\n