Gideon's Army - Warriors of Love (Legacy Edition) (Retroactive Records) 1985
1. Moment By Moment (3:30)
2. It’s Your Love (4:08)
3. Warriors Of Love (4:13)
4. No Fun (3:41)
5. I Know Someone (4:15)
6. Runaway (4:07)
7. I Know I Could See You (3:30)
8. Video (4:53)
9. Backslider Brother (4:25)
10. Face To Face (3:55)
Bay Area based Gideon’s Army are a Christian rock band whose roots date back to the 1970's. "Warriors of Love" was originally released in 1985.
While there is a plethora of quality Christian heavy metal out on the market, high quality Christian rock is a bit harder to come by. There are the more well known bands like Petra, Rez and Whiteheart but there were plenty of others that weren't as popular. Gideon's Army have much in common musically with Rez and Daniel Band, or secular bands like Toto and mid-80's Journey. The best tracks on "Warriors of Love" are the heavier songs such as the high energy opening track "Moment By Moment" and the equally up-beat "Runaway". Both songs have solid hooks and would have sounded even heavier without the keyboards and 80's-style production qualities. The title track is a catchy, keyboard-led ballad with a big sing-along chorus and some nice guitar work peppered throughout. "Backslider Brother" is blue-based rocker with nice groove and some smooth harmonized vocals. Other songs like "No Fun" and "Video" tend towards 80's pop rock and aren't quite as interesting as the more rockin' moments. In this respect, "Warriors of Love" reminds me of Rez' "Heaven & Hell" with it's mix of pop rock and hard rock. Much like Rez or Daniel Band, Gideon's Army also take a duel lead vocal approach with Mark Greves and Jerry Anderson trading off lead vocals throughout the album.
Unfortunately the "Warriors of Love" LP was out-of-print and only available as a pricey vinyl collectible for years. "Warriors Of Love" was finally remastered and issued for the first time on CD by Retroactive Records in 2013. On a side note, it's great to have independent labels like Retroactive around who are in it for the love of music, as opposed to being in it for profits. An album like "Warriors of Love" probably never would have seen the light of day again if not for Retroactive.