Description
Weapons of our Warfare is the sophomore album by the American metal band Deliverance, released on Intense Records in 1990, a division of Frontline Music Group. The album was recorded by Brian Person and Eric Kibbe with George Ochoa producing. Mixed by Bill Metoyer. Featuring Jimmy P. Brown II on guitar and vocals, George Ochoa on lead guitar, and a rhythm section consisting of Brian Khairullah on bass and Chris Hyde on drums.
You might be asking yourself: “why another re-issue of Weapons of Our Warfare? Didn’t they just re-issue this?” Yes, “they” did, but yes, this album is worth another re-issue. There are really two types of re-issues: one that releases an album on CD for the first time, and one that puts more copies of a high-demand CD back into circulation once supplies have gone low. Weapons of Our Warfare is the second kind – a high demand album that tends to sell out for good reasons. Back in the late 80s/early 90s, I watched Head Bangers Ball every weekend that I could get away with it (until my parents got tired of the late night noise). I remember seeing the video for the title song played quite often on the Ball – it was that good. The guys had the looks, the chops, and the ferocity to be played alongside any other speed/thrash band of the day. Well, Jimmy P, Brown II, George Ochoa, Brian Khairullah, and Chris Hyde still have the chops and are probably still handsome fellas to this day… but they just didn’t look like a bunch of church people that one day decided to “reach the kids these days for the Lord” like many other Christian bands did. In fact, it wasn’t until after a few times seeing the video that I realized they were a “Christian” band. The only other Christian band I knew of at the time was Stryper, so I thought t was good they were getting some company (I wasn’t a Christian at the time, so little did I know…). It was a few years later before I even found a way to get albums by Deliverance. I found that Deliverance’s self-titled debut album was a killer thrash album with a few speed metal leanings, Weapons of Our Warfare was a bit slicker-produced album that combined thrash and speed, and the follow up What a Joke went more speed with a good dose of thrash still on board. Speed and thrash (and any combinations thereof ) bands were “hot” in the late 80s and early 90s – and Deliverance could stand toe to toe with most of the best of them. Listening again to this album, I tend to gravitate towards the crunchier thrash of songs like «Weapons of Our Warfare», «Slay the Wicked», and «If We Faint Not»… but there isn’t a track to skip on the whole album. The re-issue is top notch as usual – the remaster sounds excellent, and the packaging is full of lyrics and tons of band photos from the day. No write up of the album, though – but I am assuming most people that know the album already know anything that could be written up. If you need to replace an old, worn-out CD, or never had a chance to get a copy in the first place – now is the time to grab this seminal album before it sells out again. [Matt Crosslin, The Phantom Tollbooth, 20 March 2018]
Deliverance – Weapons of our Warfare (Retroactive Records 2021) Gold Disc Remaster
Only a year after the band released the historic self-titled debut, the band released their 1990 tour de force: Weapons of Our Warfare. Metallica created Master of Puppets, Slayer bludgeoned the world with the classic Reign In Blood, Flotsam & Jetsam had Doomsday…, and Exodus boasted Bonded By Blood – all albums that would create the standard for all other speed metal releases. Weapons of Our Warfare was that album for Deliverance. It cemented the band’s place as iconic speed metal royalty. To this very day, Weapons is still mentioned with hushed reverence among Christian metalheads as one of the elite speed metal albums of all time.
Guitarist Glenn Rogers had exited the band and former Recon guitarist George Ochoa had joined in his place. Weapons of our Warfare turned out to be one monster of a record, a genuine speed metal classic. Each and every song is played with a feverish fury, and once again the song writing is outstanding. Since 1985, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist, Jimmy Brown had been crafting some of the tastiest techniques for complex rhythms and highly technical rhythm guitar. Brown’s guitar mastery drives the album from start to finish, setting new standards of power, precision, and stamina. The album shows marked musical growth with several adrenaline-driven, extended, multi-sectioned compositions foreshadowing the band’s later progressive epics. And the trade-off guitar leads by Brown and Ochoa provide first rate riffage that will satisfy even the most skilled Guitar Hero addict.
A video version of the title track became the first Christian metal song to gain airplay on MTV, and it placed among the top three on that network’s Headbanger’s Ball countdown for twelve weeks in a row! In 1999, Lars Ulrich (Metallica) hosted a show in which he named Deliverance “Weapons…” as one of his top ten favorite metal videos of all time.
Weapons of Our Warfare (Gold Disc) takes all the magic from the original release and magnifies it! Featuring a complete 2021 Digital Remastering, Rob Colwell of Bombworks Sound worked hard to make it sound substantially better than the original, while still keeping the character of it. The original artwork is expanded to a 12 panel booklet (many Weapons era photos and lyrics!) and packaged in a jewel case to make sure this reissue delights all Mighty D fans, as well as fans of Believer, Slayer, Exodus, Metallica, Tourniquet, and Anthrax.
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/weapons-of-our-warfare-remastered/388677386)
CD tracklist:
01. Supplication – 1:48
02. This Present Darkness – 2:47
03. Weapons Of Our Warfare – 4:25
04. Solitude – 6:05
05. Flesh And Blood – 7:27
06. Bought By Blood – 3:17
07. 23 – 5:49
08. Slay The Wicked – 4:03
09. Greetings Of Death – 2:49
10. If We Faint Not – 4:25
Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by Intense Records. Remastered and re-issued on both CD and 12-inch vinyl LP (pressed on blue vinyl) by Retroactive Records in 2014. Re-issued again on both CD and 12-inch vinyl LP (black and blue vinyl) by Roxx Records in 2017.
“Weapons Of Our Warfare” (MUSIC VIDEO)
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