No Life 'til Metal - CD Gallery

American t echnical thrash metal quartet formed in 1987 by drummer Joey Daub and guitarist/vocalist Kurt Bachman. I discovered these guys shortly after selling all my vinyl in 1989. I walked into a Christian store with a load of money from the records I had just sold and bought five new Christian metal cds. Believer's "Extraction from Mortality" was one of the discs I held in my hand. When I got home and popped it in my cd player, I was blown away. I had to go back and read the lyrics to make sure it was really Christian, as the music was as intense, if not more so, than anything I had been listening to before.

"Extraction from Mortality" is one of the best thrash releases of 1989, if not of all time! Believer were brutal, fast, tight, aggressive, technical, and had thought provoking lyrics. Of course, as with any thrash metal release, the shout-along, gang vocals are key. With subsequent releases, the band would start writing more progressive songs. However, on this, their debut, they stick to straight forward thrash metal. Kurt's raspy, raw, gutteral vocal delivery was more in line with some of the European thrash bands, than their fellow American bands. "Extraction" sports a very cool cover as well.

For many years, the original R.E.X. pressing of "Extraction from Mortality" was the rarest Believer CD and was selling for hefty sums on auction sites. The album was re-release in 2001 by M8 Records with two bonus tracks. Fortunately for me, I already have the bonus tracks, thus negating my need to upgrade. The re-release has an inferior (read: cheap) insert. Almost as fast as it was released, the M8 Records release also went out of print with only 2,000 copies in circulation.

Believer also have a remixed version of "Vile Hypocrisy" on the R.E.X. "Argh!!!" compilation and a demo song called "The Chosen" on the "East Coast Metal" compilation.

Another classic, this one however, gained them much more of an audience and secured them a spot on tour with Bolt Thrower and Sacrifice. "Sanity Obscure" is a bit more technical than their debut release. This disc is also much shorter, which was probably a wise decision. I think it is a big mistake to make albums too long as they tend to get boring. Anyhow, Sanity Obscure gained rave reviews from everyone despite the fact that Believer are a "Christian band." (Like that matters to how good the music is.) Essential thrash to any collector. "Dies Irae," a song that mixed heavy guitars with opera and violins, was a hint of things to come. "Like A Song" is a U2 cover.

1. "Gone" (5:47)
2. "Future Mind" (5:34)
3. "Dimentia" (5:36)
4. "What Is But Can Not Be" (5:28)
5. "Singularity" (4:24)
6. "No Apology" (4:55)
7. "Trilogy of Knowledge"
........Intro: The Birth (2:17)
........Movement I: The Lie (5:27)
........Movement II: The Truth (6:46)
........Movement III: The Key (6:21)

Believer third and last offering is a bit different than their first two masterpieces. The writing team of Kurt Bachman and Joey Daub is still in tact, but new members have been added including a new bassist: Jim Winters, an opera soprano: Julianne Laird, a cellosit: Glenn Fischbach, and a violinist : Scott Laird, who also played violin on "Dies Irae" from "Sanity Obscure." Much more technical than anything they have done yet, this is yet another thrash masterpiece. The big difference is in the song "Trilogy of Knowledge," a 20+ minute epic song in four parts that tells the Biblical story of Christ by mixing the vocals of Kurt Bachman with the melodic, soprano vocals of Julianne Laird. This track alone is worth the price of the cd. If I had to put a label on it I would classify it as "Symphonic Thrash!" Other favorites are the groove laden "No Apology" and the eerie violin enhanced "Dimentia." Of the three Believer discs, this is the easiest to find. It is available with two different covers as well.

The return of Believer was exciting news for me. I've been a fan since hearing them on the East Coast Metal compilation back in 1988. "Gabriel" was certainly one of the most anticipated releases of 2009 for me, even though I was also a bit nervous about the release. Believer haven't released any new material since 1993. I wondered whether Kurt Bachman and Joey Daub would stick to doing what Believer are known for or if they would venture into new territory. After all, Joey Daub has been with gothic band Fountain of Tears for the past few years, and we've heard nothing new from Kurt Backman for over a decade. However, there was no need to worry as "Gabriel" is exactly what anyone could have hoped for from Believer. Frankly, "Gabriel" is an outstanding follow-up to "Dimensions".

That's not to say that "Gabriel" is all straight forward thrash metal like the latest Kreator release. There are some samples and keyboards jumping out here and there on this album. Ex-Sardonyx keyboard player Jeff King is listed as a member of Believer and adds a bit of an industrial tone to the whole thing. As has been the case for Believer since album one, there is some orchestration mixed in as well. However, there is plenty of good 'ol thrash metal to be had as well. "Focused Lethality" and "Stoned" are both solid straight up metal songs. "Focused Lethality" is an incredibly fast thrash metal song, whereas "Stoned" has tinges of death metal mixed in. Both songs have solid guitar riffs, punishing guitar tones and plenty of double bass work. Thankfully, it doesn't sound like Believer down tuned much on this CD. Rather than relying on heavily downtuned guitars for a heavy sound, Believer have accomplished a heavy sound by writing heavy riffs! The guitar tone is raw and crunchy, but clearly distinguishable and has an odd hollowness that adds to the overall dark atmosphere of the music. The bottom end is held up by the heavy bass guitar tone, as it should be.

One thing that Believer has over the current crop of thrash bands coming out of the woodwork is that they don't just play thrash for thrash sake. The band knows how to mix up tempos, song writing, and other elements so that the album flows as a whole without every song sounding the same.

The lyrics this time around aren't as openly Christian as past albums, although I am in no way saying that the lyrics are bad. Rather, they have gone for a more poetic approach this time around. I must confess, however, that at the time of writing this review I hadn't spent a lot of time reading through the lyrics and am only basing this opinion on hearing the lyrics alone. For the most part Bachman spits out the lyrics with his high, raspy voice and doesn't really sound all that different than he did on past Believer albums. "The Brave" features some clean male vocals. Again, this isn't really surprising for Believer as they have mixed in other vocal styles in the past.

The last few tracks here are total filler, oddball stuff. The nearly nine minute track titled "Nonsense Mediated Decay" is exactly that, a nine minute collage of nonsense. I guess this shouldn't be surprising for Believer as they have always had at least one oddball track on every CD. However, it tends to makes make a very strong album end on a very weak note. The last three untitled tracks are also odd little noise tracks that really don't add anything to the CD. Frankly, I'd rather that this CD have only been the nine actual songs, which is how it will be on my iPod.