The whole Christian rock scene was looked upon with ridicule in most of the rock mags in the early to mid 80’s, and if you tagged yourself as a Christian band it was the kiss of death for you career until Stryper came along. This was Guardian’s first release that appeared in ’89 and this version was released on Roadrunner, primarily a metal label at the time.
This album got my attention because of the killer guitar playing of Tony Palacios, who has to be one of the best guitarists you’ve never heard of. He embellishes every song with the right amount of awesome to lift the songs above the average. Mystery Man being a fine example of this as it’s a decent enough melodic rock tune with a nice groove and hook but the guitar lifts it to a great song. That’s basically the whole album. As what are mostly ordinary songs are elevated by some very cool guitar. My favourite song other than Mystery Man is Saints Battalion. If you can get past the lyrics, the song and melody are cool and the solo is so good.
So, if you’re interested in great guitar playing then check this out.
7.5/10 from The Grooveman.
