Roxx Records has yet again resurrected material from a little known Christian band and pulled together enough material for a release. In this case the band is Combat Faith who display their metal prowess on tracks from a 1989 album that was never released, which was really a loss for the Christian metal community.
Back in the late 80s-early 90’s New Mexico apparently had quite the Christian metal scene with bands like Cross, Rapture, Angelic Force, Moshketeers, Ultimatum, and Combat Faith. In 1986 Combat Faith was formed by guitarist Ric Buteau , vocalist, Albert Baca, and drummer Alan Tuma, playing shows locally including opening for some of the legendary bands of the time like Whitecross, Vengeance Rising, the Crucified, and others. Combat Faith began recording their debut 10 song full-length in 1989 but only 4 tracks were ever released to shop to labels. Six of those tracks have been resurrected for this album and the 4 song demo added to create In Your Face.
A fast, heavy riff opens up the album on “Child of Fire” immediately letting the listener know this is going to be some metal. The first thing noticed is the somewhat sketchy production quality and mixing but with this being a never released album and demo, that’s an understandable situation. If you put yourself back in 1989 and think about music from that time, this song would fit right in. Guitars are heavy and drumming very fast and comes through nicely in the mix. Vocals, perfect for the era with some great range and power being shown by Albert Baca, reminding me a bit of Joey Belladonna.
Alan Tuma’s drums come to the forefront in the opening of “Mystery Tune” and keep the song moving at a fast clip throughout. The song also shifts partway through to a slower tempo where the guitar solo takes over only to shift back into the original pace to close out. Songs like “The Return” have a bit of an Iron Maiden like feel to them in parts and in general one can see the influence of the bigger metal bands at the time, making this album a bit like a time capsule. For those looking for some great fast riffs and drums, be sure to check out “Lies”, a song sure to get your head bobbing. This is one of those tracks you’d love to see performed live.
“Doctrines of Greed” continues that trend and has a familiar rhythm and feel to it as well as some of the clearer vocals making me think this was on the demo that was shopped around. From an overall sound, this one veers a bit more toward being more mainstream and is less aggressive in sound that some of the other tracks on the album. “Set You Free”, “Homeless”, and “Strong Arm” finish out the album and I’m guessing are the rest of the songs on the 4 song demo that was shopped around based on the better quality production. Unfortunately, these songs show the band shifting toward more of a hair metal sound than the NWOBHM sound on earlier tracks. Vocals and songs now resemble more those of bands like Poison and LA Guns, which is quite the change from earlier tracks.
Many thanks to Roxx Records for compiling and releasing material from little-known bands that we all should hear and for many of us, inspire thoughts about what could have been if these bands had every been given a real chance. These songs from Combat Faith show how a band’s sound and approach can change over a short period of time and give the listener a great insight into a moment in music history.
Rating: 8/10
Written By John Jackson
Tracklist
- Child of Fire
- In Your Face
- Mystery Tune
- The Return
- Gog
- Lies
- Doctrines of Greed
- Set You Free
- Homeless
- Strong Arm
Band Members
Alan Tuma – drums
Albert Baca – vocals
Ric Buteau – guitars
Release Date: June 25th. 2021
Record Label: Roxx Records, 2021
Video for ‘Child of Fire’
Video for ‘In Your Face’
