Oracle - Selah / Emerald - Armed
for Battle (Magdalen/M8)
1992/1986
ORACLE - "SELAH"
1. "Passage Denied" (5:32)
2. "Harlots Destiny" (4:27)
3. "Witches and Warlocks" (6:04)
4. "The Purging Fire" (3:52)
5. "Desolate Kings" (3:17)
6. "Legion" (6:53)
7. "Rebecca" (1:42)
EMERALD - "ARMED FOR
BATTLE"
8. "Armed for Battle" (4:13)
9. "Teenage Suicide" (7:50)
10. "We Attack" (3:55)
11. "Look to the Stars" (5:07)
12. "Winds Of Doom" (7:00)
13. "Judgement Day" (4:10)
14. Traitor (bonus track from California
Metal II) (2:43)
15. Born To Die (bonus track from California
Metal II) (4:14)
Emerald's first and only album, is an LA heavy metal classic. Perhaps to the nu-metal fanatics this underground metal platter will sound dated and even silly. I, on the other hand, have owned a vinyl copy of this since it was released so I am totally stoked to finally get this metal classic on CD. As for those who will inevitably ask me if these bands were Christian, well I can only answer that I do not know. Emerald were made up partially of Christians, but their lyrics are rather vague and not typical of what is labeled 'white metal.' As a side note, former Vengeance Rising bassist Roger Dale Martin played bass for these guys for a while and plays on much of this album. I'm still holding onto my original vinyl of this however as the CD sound quality is actually WEAKER than the record. Great photo on the back of the album cover that is berely visible as a ghost behind the lyrics on this inside of this cd. If I can ever figure out a way to scan a record cover, I will post this photo.
This was the first band that I was in when I moved to California. The day that I showed up (11/1/84). I went into a music store and asked the guy behind the counter if he knew of anybody looking for a bass player. He pointed to the only other guy in the store and said, "Him". I introduced myself. His name was Dave Enos. He said," Grab a bass off the wall and plug in." He immediately started the intro to Crazy Train by Ozzy. Fortunately, I knew the song note for note. Even the off beat bass line in the verses. I was in a band my first day in California. Glam ruled at the time and Emerald wore all green spandex and poofy hair and makeup. I am all in. Shag haircut and mascara! Oh yeah and earrings too. We practiced every night for a whole year! Played a couple of gigs only. We did not see eye to eye on a major issue for me so after the recording of the EP ( even though I had invested 1200 bucks in the studio) I left the group. They quickly got a replacement and he overdubbed a few of the bass tracks and tossed some of mine. I stuck to my guns and it turned out to be the best move that I could have made. Still in glam mode, I quickly was accepted into Holy Right and we did a couple of gigs together and did quite a bit of surfing in the ocean. I moved to the beach area away from the band and retired from Holy Right and became best friends with Doug Thieme. And you know the rest of the story....
-Roger Dale Martin