SOLDIER - Babylon And Beyond (30th Anniversary) + Babylon (Vinyl)

If there was ever a band in the West Coast late 80’s Christian metal scene that should have been able to “break big” and didn’t, it should have been Soldier. They had all of the tools and stage presence of the likes of Bloodgood, Barren Cross and Stryper. They wrote great songs. They gave all the glory to God. But it wasn’t meant to be. Fortunately, 30 years later, their voice (and their impact) will not be lost thanks to Bill Bafford (Roxx Productions) Jeff Lemas and Rob Colwell. Soldier gets the gold treatment with a 2CD/DVD (fan must have) release of Babylon (1988) and Louder Than Hell (1987) … plus much, much more. This stuff sounds great on CD, but the emphasis of my review is going to be the LP/vinyl release of Babylon.

The CDs

CD1 contains cleaned-up versions of their two releases plus the California Metal II songs “Borderline” and “Tears.” All of these tracks sound great and no fan of the band will want to miss out on this set because it is all here in glorious fashion. CD2 has the 4 previously unreleased tracks from 1992 which feature a more bluesy, hard rock style (some of these songs kinda early 90’s Bride meets Led Zep). “When I Finally See Your Face” is probably the song most resembling their 80’s material. The live tracks from Riverside, CA (His Festival I – 1987) nicely capture the band’s stage presence and performance style – Jimmy Arceneaux had a way of just being really humble and transparent but yet could get the crowd going, and there is plenty of dialogue between songs, much of it addressing the “Mormon controversy.” Finally, the unreleased song “Call My Name” (a nicely up-tempo rocker) – only ever performed live – has been included in this set.The booklet that comes with the 2CD is excellent, with some great liner notes and pictures, and includes a nice introductory word from Bill Bafford.

Disc One

Babylon (1988)

1. Babylon

2. Louder Than Hell

3. Deadly Weapons

4. One Of A Kind

5. Priceless Heart

6. Where Have All the Children Gone

7. King Of The City

8. Borderline

9. Angel

10. First Time

11. Promises

Louder Than Hell (1987)

12. Heart Of Stone

13. Somebody New

14. Angel

15. King Of The City (Live)

16. Glory & Honor (Live)

17. Priceless Heart (Live)

18. Heart of Stone (Live)

California Metal II (1988)

19. Borderline

20. Tears

Disc Two

Previously Unreleased (1992)

1. When I Finally See Your Face

2. Blues For The Fallin’

3. Thru The Past Darkly

4. Down On The Killin’ Floor

His Festival I (1987)

5. Intro (Live)

6. King Of The City (Live)

7. One Of A Kind Romance (Live)

8. Angel (Live)

9. Glory And Honor (Live)

10. Somebody New (Live)

11. First Time (Live)

12. Rick Solo (Live)

13. Heart Of Stone (Live)

Previously Unreleased

14. Call My Name (Live)

The DVD

The live DVD is pretty limited (in availability) so I am hesitant to say much here about it. For those who desire to score a copy, I have to say here that it is pretty raw footage with really harsh, treble-y sound quality, so don’t expect much other than raw bootleg footage. It’s nostalgic for sure (this is the way metal was back in the day) but I don’t think it is something I will watch very often because the sound is so bad.

Roxx Records Underground Series #10 (Vinyl)

For me, though, the highlight of this set would have to be the vinyl LP of Babylon. The 10th release in this series (Roxx Records Underground Series) it absolutely smokes! Dressed up in white vinyl (I’ve always been a sucker for white vinyl since Stryper’s Soldiers Under Command way back when), and housed in the re-sealable vinyl poly with folded cover sleeve (lyrics and credits on back) this version is not only highly collectible (only 150 worldwide), but more importantly it is an absolute joy to hear these songs rendered in this format. Right from the start of “Louder Than Hell” you know it’s going to be great because Marc Allyn’s bass just jumps out of the speakers in “louder than life” fashion. The incredibly strong “Deadly Weapons” follows in similar fashion with plenty of low end bass drum punch evident in the mix. “Priceless Heart” is one of my favorite Soldier songs – just love the lyrics and these riffs and vocals are “priceless” in this format. Side B features the powerful tunes “Borderline” and “King Of The City,” probably one of the band’s strongest songs. As to the ballad tracks, I prefer “Where Have All The Children Gone,” but “Angel” sounds great here too. The album closes out with the brilliant “Promises.” The surface noise is minimal (although there are a few audible “loud pops” in the middle of a few tracks) and the disc feels like a 180gm weight record. This one comes well protected in a clear inner fold-over record sleeve, with the printed sleeve and an outer re-sealable polybag. If you love Christian melodic metal from the 80’s you do NOT want to miss this collectible – it’s one of the best sounding recordings I’ve heard from the era on vinyl.