Holy Soldier "Promise Man"

Holy Soldier

Promise Man

1995 ForeFront

Produced By: David Zaffiro

album cover

inside

album back

disc

Track Listings

Promise Man

Mumbo Jumbo

My World

Rust

Why Don't You Look Into Jesus

Break it Down

Cover Me

Grind

Love Conquers All

Sand

Musicians

Eric Wayne: Vocals

Michael Cutting: Electric & Acoustic Guitars, Mandolin, Vocals

Andy Robbins: Bass

Scott Soderstrom: Electric & Acoustic Guitars

Holy Soldier is one of those underrated 90's Christian bands in my opinion. They burst onto the scene with their self titled album in 1990 and followed it up with the awesome Last Train in 1992. Then it was radio silence it seemed. We wouldn't hear from the band again until 1995's Promise Man. If you were hoping for more high energy, in your face metal like from the previous two albums then you may be disappointed. I don't mean that in a bad way, but Promise Man is a big departure from their previous sound. 

Now signed to ForeFront, they feature a new lead vocalist. Eric Wayne took over the vocal duties after Steven Patrick left to pursue a solo career. With the change, the who sound of the band seem to "evolve" with the time. Metal was on it's way out, quickly being replaced with that Seattle grunge sound. In order to stay relevant, I guess the band or the label thought they should change with the times? I really don't know the back story, but Promise Man is the start of what I like to call Holy Soldier 2.0.

I remember when I first heard this album during my senior year of High School and I thought, "wow"...is this even the same band? I wasn't sure at first if I liked this new sound, but being that I listed to a lot of music in the mid to late 90's I ended up playing this album quite a bit. With each consecutive listen the songs began to grow on me. The opening title track features a great bass line before you get Eric Wayne's booming, soulful deep vocals. The band helped write all the songs together, but the liner notes also give credit to Michael Anderson for his help on Promise Man. I'm not sure what his contribution exactly was, but I can "hear" his talent in this almost bluesy sounding song.

In 1995 Holy Soldier's new label, ForeFront, would release a tribute album, One Way, of the Christian rock pioneer Larry Norman. Holy Soldier contributed to the album with their rendition of Larry's song Why Don' You Look Into Jesus. This same song would also find it's way onto Promise Man. I can't say that at that time I was all that familiar with Larry Norman's catalogue, including this song, but it has become one of my favorites. Because I heard Holy Soldier's version before the original, I prefer their version, but regardless of who recorded the song it's a great song.

There are several songs that remain favorites of mine to this day, including Cover Me, Grind & Sand. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Love Conquers All, the album's one ballad. The message is fine, I just don't care for the sound of the song...just seems out of place on the album.

While Promise Man may not be one of my all time favorite albums (from the band or just in general), it is fun to re-visit it from time to time. I believe this album did fairly well in the Christian music community, evening winning a Dove Award for  the title track, but would ultimately be a "one and done" with ForeFront. One additional album would be released after this, Encore, on Spaceport Records. This isn't a hard album to find physically if you're looking to add it to your library.

Pete Stewart "Pete Stewart"

Pete Stewart

Pete Stewart

1998 ForeFront Records

Produced By: Michael Tait

pre-release disc

Track Listings

Out of My Mind (4:42)

Better Off (4:08)

Uphill Battle (3:09)

Worship Song (3:08)

Little Country Church (3:03)

Don't Underestimate Me (3:59)

Spinning (5:03)

Up in the Sky (2:48)

The Reason is You (5:07)

The One (4:22)

Waiting for the Son (4:39)

Musicians

Guitars: Pete Stewart

Bass: Otto Price

Drums: Rick May

Backing Vocals: Michael Tait

Like many Christian teens in the 90's that listened to Christian music, I was a fan of Grammatrain. I soaked up everything they released. Their CDs stayed in my CD wallet I kept in my truck. Many days pulling out of the high school parking lot you could hear Grammatrain blasting out the windows. Needless to say when my brother handed me this pre-release of Pete Stewart's first solo album after Grammatrain disbanded, I was excited. Then I popped the CD into my truck's player...

I wanted to like this album, I really did...but strings? Is that a tambourine I hear? What happened here?! This isn't Grammatrain!! 

Correct, this is Pete Stewart. Still on the ForeFront label, Pete decided to go a different direction musically. I don't know if that was his idea or the labels decision, but all the sudden Pete had a different sound. The first listen through the album I just wasn't all that impressed, but the more I listened the more I started to appreciate the new approach. 

The lead track, Out of my Mind is great opening number. It's got a very catchy guitar riff to open the song...but then it stops and it's replaced by a drum machine? Give it a second though and you're hit with those guitars again. The vocals are strong and overall the song could almost appear on a Grammatrain album..almost.

Better Off shows off a different side. It's a mid-tempo song and I always find myself singing along more so than some of the other tracks.

Uphill Battle might as well have appeared on a Tait album as the song opens with vocals by Michael Tait. It's a great song, but I can't help but think Pete is trying too hard in the vocal department to match Michael's performance. The song is actually one of my favorites on the album, but then again I loved both of Tait's albums.

Worship Song is the albums "ballad". It's just Pete and an acoustic guitar. "You lift me up | so high where my voice fills the sky | high above the Heavens | You fill my soul with peace and deliver me | and I will call upon Your name"

Little Country Church is an odd song, but it's very catchy. When it starts you're not sure if you're still listening to Pete or not. Gospel background singers and a different sound are eventually replaced with some great guitar work and more of a driving rock sound. With this latest listen I found myself tapping my foot driving up interstate 85.

I guess when I listened to this album the when it was new, I only listened to the first "side" as after Little Country Church a lot of the songs just didn't sound familiar to me. In fact I found this CD tucked into the very last page of a massive CD binder that I found in the garage the other day. I tossed it in my van as I knew I'd be traveling for work soon and would need some music to help make the drive bearable. I'm glad I gave the album another listen as I really enjoyed it.

The album has a very different sound from his days with Grammatrain, but I've learned that is OK. Artists should continue to mature and grow, not only in their walk with the Lord but also with their music. I have no idea how this album came to be and what Pete thinks about it, but I really enjoyed listening to it from beginning to end recently. Somehow I never got around to picking up his other two solo efforts, but I will be on the look out for them. I may even consider picking up the retail release for this album just so I can have the album art and liner notes. It can be had for less than $3 (at the time of this post) on Amazon.