Creed "The Sign of Victory"

Creed

The Sign of Victory

1990 Pila Music

Produced By: Norman Barratt

album cover

back

lyrics (click to enlarge)

album back

disc

Track Listing

Sign of Victory (4:03)

Taken by Storm (4:18)

Meet Again (Farewell) (4:35)

Broken Heart (4:23)

Child (0:35)

Prayer of Praise (2:59)

Tonite (3:56)

Break the Chainz (4:15)

Forever on Fire (4:01)

In the Dark (3:53)

Musicians

Jessy Baron: vocals

Udo Libutzkij: guitars

Tichy Casni: bass

Let me put this out there before we begin. This is not the Scott Stapp led band of the same name. While I'm a fan of that Creed, this one predates the grunge metal band.

I don't recall where I first read or heard about this band. My guess would be the awesome Heaven's Metal magazine as I religiously read that mag back in the day. This wasn't an easy album to come across back in the 90's and especially not today. I know that Pure Metal released this album in the States, but I don't recall the band getting much publicity in the States. As you can tell from the pictures above, my copy of the album is actually a German import on the Pila Music label. From what I can tell however there are no differences between the this release and the Pure Metal release.

The album opens up with a live version of the title track. I'm usually not the biggest fan of songs recorded live for various reasons, but the band sounds great. Perhaps the whole album should've been recorded live as this. The best way to describe Creed's style of metal is melodic. I love Jessy's vocals and for a 3 man outfit they harmonize well on the chorus.

In my opinion there really isn't a bad song on the album. Meet Again (Farewell) is probably my favorite song because it's easy to sing along with. I could hear Stryper singing this song with the big harmonies incorporated. Tonite, Forever on Fire are great songs with some great guitar work by Udo. The last song on the album is In the Dark and it features some fast and furious guitar work. 

This was a talented band and it's a shame that they weren't able to put out another album. (they did have a self titled EP released in 1986, but I've never found a copy even on cassette...though I did find one song from the EP posted on YouTube!) If you're wanting to track down a copy for yourself be prepared to open your wallet fairly wide as the album is hard to come by and when it does show up on the secondary market (eBay) it's not cheap. It was released on vinyl and cassette as well so depending on your taste it can be had on whatever format you prefer...with a little luck and a lot of $$!