Year : 1991 (Retroactive Records Limited Edition 2020)
Style : Christian Hard Rock , AOR
Country : Canada
Audio : 320 kbps + scans
Size : 110 mb
Bio:
A Christian Hard Rock/AOR from Canada. Exceptional, melodic, good chorus, with loads of hooks and killer vox. They sound reminder a little of Firehouse, Bon Jovi and Warrant. The production is also quite good for an unknown independent band.Ottawa, Canada based Siloam is the brainchild of a talented drummer by the name of Brian Lutes. Coming out of a real street wise background, Lutes became a Christian after nearly dying of a drug overdose but went back to the streets in order to work with kids and relate the Gospel to them in a creditable way. Lutes, In the meantime, had given up music altogether until he was approached by his pastor who said he had a dream of him being involved in a band called Siloam (drawing its name from John 9:7). Proceeding to jam and play at church on Sunday, Lutes got together with a partner of his from another band, Tom Saidek, and started holding auditions in Los Angeles and Europe. After auditioning a total of 70 guitarist and 40 vocalist, the two settled on a vocalist and bassist who both hail from Boston, Lee Guthrie and Chad Everett respectively, and a keyboardist from Vermont in Ken Maris. Lead guitarist Tim Laroche was recruited out of Iceland. Immediately after its line up was put together, Siloam entered the studio and began work on its 1991 Image 7 debut Sweet Destiny.The best way to describe Siloam would be a blend of melodic hard rock and melodic rock with commercial metal tendencies. Sweet Destiny actually flows quite well from front to back in that it includes no filler tracks, best showcasing the bands songwriting skills on energetic hard rockers such as "Chemical King (Big Fight)" and "Eastern Skies" in addition to "Here I Am Again" and "Sweet Destiny" with their radio friendly sensibilities. The band even turns it up a notch on the guitar driven metal of "Lethal Lady" while delivering two customary - though very well done - commercial ballads in "Child Of Mine" and "After The Fire". In the end, if you happen to be a fan of Stryper, Holy Soldier, Guardian, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi and others in the same genre then Siloam is certain to appeal to you.
Album:
Retroactive Records has remastered for the first time “Sweet Destiny“, the long out of print album from American / Canadian melodic hard rockers SILOAM, pressed on high quality gold disc and limited to 500 pieces. This is a much sought after little gem from the genre with killer songs driven by melodic guitar riffs, hooks galore, stellar lead vocals and sing-along choruses.Few bands captured the late Eighties to early Nineties commercial metal / hard rock / AOR sound like multi-national act SILOAM.Perhaps due to SILOAM coming from the Christian Rock scene “Sweet Destiny” didn’t became more popular at the time, but believe us, it truly deserves to be compared with early SKID ROW, STRYPER, GUARDIAN, HOLY SOLDIER, etc…A close listen to SILOAM’s 1991 debut ‘Sweet Destiny’ reveal all the era requirements to become huge: the notable melodies to garner MTV and FM radio play, a soaring vocalist capable of a high-end falsetto but also reaching down for some lower register grit, and shredding guitarist with a penchant for blistering leads in addition to the occasional leaning towards the bluesy.SILOAM fits the bill as well in that the band delivers the needed ingredient in terms of hair, hair and more hair but go beneath the surface and you will find a bit more than meets the eye all the same.Polished opener “Here I Am Again” is a good indicator of the Siloam sound. In traversing commercial hard rock to AOR territory, it fades in to keyboards and acoustic guitar ahead of slowly building and peaking until rhythm guitar kicks in to back the momentous refrain. Lead guitar and keyboards trade off instrumentally.“Miss Lizzy” takes the heavier stances with its bluesy hard rock vibe. Guitars play a more consistently forward role, aligning with Hammond B3 to take a rollicking stance reveling in the bustling up-tempo with tight backing vocals and fiery guitar leads to make periodic appearance.First of two (and quite good) ballads ensues in “Child Of Mine”. Yes, the song features its share of heartfelt acoustic guitar and keyboards (particularly for the first minute and closing seconds) but also ample doses of ardent rhythm guitar in aligning with the impassioned scene. Of note is Guthrie’s first-rate vocal performance, as his delivery ranges from the smoothly even to the focused and searing.Back to hard rock territory with “Chemical King (Big Fight)”, an amped up and groove driven piece to highlight a pronounced bass line and all the keyed up “Big Fight!” backing vocals you could ask. An anthem-like feel resonates from the agile keyboards. Tim Laroche cuts loose with an awesome display of shredding lead guitar.The six and a half minute “Eastern Skies” ranks among our choice cuts. First two minutes transition between a ringing telephone with the answering voice and offbeat sound effects. Remaining distance proves metal slugfest, with some of the albums more pronounced guitars and brazen soloing combining for the sublime as impetus peaks for the every bit imposing ‘there’s a battle raging under Eastern skies’ refrain. Catchy, cogent and even a little progressive, “Eastern Skies” serves as a showcase for the Siloam abilities.“Deceiver” rocks with a classic hard rock vibe. Opening to guitars crashing in and out of the mix, it snarls ahead to technical drum proclivities as spoken word delivery leads the way through the intense verse portions and more of the groups tightly woven harmony vocals for the sweeping refrain. Lead guitar continues in a fiercely played direction. In the end, “Deceiver” proves a three-minute explosion of unremitting energy and emotion.Ballad number two, “After The Fire”, follows with its warmly tinctured acoustic form. A churning keyboard solo carries the first minute prior to momentum slowly drifting ahead calm and gentle until rhythm guitar with an earthly supplants and aligns with the moving scene. Siloam leaves little doubt as to its ability to compose a top-notch ballad.“Lethal Lady” is first of three heavier pieces to close Sweet Destiny. What we have is a forward hard rocker echoing of the bluesy, intrinsic to open air guitar and drum solo to start only to move its length to full on upbeat emotion as Hammond B3 cleverly decorates the backdrop.Albums title track owes more to an AOR-ish to melodic hard rock quality ala Guardian as opposed to Stryper or Skid Row. It works, with a left to right channel keyboard solo to start succeeded by verse sections of a slowly moving, thickly woven form (with guitars setting the bottom heavy tone) and refrain on the lighter, freely flowing side (backed by polished vocal melodies). Nah-nah-nah-nah harmony vocals precede the fusion like instrumental section. A highlight.“Decent Souls” closes the album to its share of variations. At times, it impresses of a ballad, opening its first minute and a half to acoustic guitar and flowing harmonies; at others, it derives of hard rock, as found in the weighty guitars and muscular low end to carry the remaining distance. Added organ serves to tie everything together.Similar to many albums of the time, ”Sweet Destiny” went out of print and turned into a hard to find collectors item. Enter Retroactive Records, whom in 2020 remastered (courtesy of Rob Colwell of Bombworks Sound) and re-issued ”Sweet Destiny” on Gold Edition CD limited edition to 500 copies.The remastering takes things to the next level. Outside of increased volume levels to bring the album up to modern standards, fine details better sound out in the form of a more transparent drum sound, crisper guitars and easier to define bass and keyboards.If quality melodic hard rock / melodic metal with an AOR touch is your thing, then look no further than Siloam debut ”Sweet Destiny”. The front to back consistency is in place (noting no skip buttons or filler tracks) along with strengths in the areas of musicianship (lead guitar, bass and drums particularly stand out) and varied lead vocals.
Line Up:
Lee Guthrie – lead, backing vocals
Tim Laroche – guitars, backing vocals
Chad Everett – bass, backing vocals
Brian Lutes – drums, percussion
Ken Maris – keyboards, backing vocals
+
Guitar – Rob Durbano
Guitar, Bass – Tom Saidak
production:
Arranged By – Frank Levin*, Siloam (2), Tom Saidak (tracks: 1, 3-5, 7-10)
Cover, Layout – Richard A. Yaeger
Photography By – Paul Couvretta
Producer, Engineer, Mixed By, Keyboards – Frank Levin*
Tracklist:
01. Here I Am Again
02. Miss Lizzy
03. Child Of Mine
04. Chemical King (Big Fight)
05. Eastern Skies
06. Deceiver
07. After The Fire
08. Lethal Lady
09. Sweet Destiny
10. Decent Souls
Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/
