Released is my least favorite of the VR catalog.There are a couple tunes I like but by this time I had given up on ol Roger.

Hey Stender,
are you going to do Anthology? How about Once Dead - Return with a Vengeance?

I liked VR

Human Sacrifice- No Opinion havent heard it
Once Dead - 8/10
Destruction Comes - 9/10
Released Upon The Earth - 3/10 (only reason why it gets a score is cuz Jimmy plays on the album)

Human Sacrifice has always been and will always be one of my fav Christian metal albums.

I can remember buying Human Sacrifice on vinyl in early 1990. The only Christian metal I'd heard to that time was Stryper and Whitecross, so needless to say my ears were in for a shock. The album leapt out with an intensity -actually, a ferocity, which still stands up today, in spite of whatever other shortcomings the recording had. I picked up Once Dead shortly after, but for some reason, it didn't grab me the same way, and it received less play over the years. In the last few years, however, I've realised that for me, Once Dead is actually the better album, with the band's sound tight and defined, and all members firing. So whilst HS is the groundbreaker and therefore classic, OD holds together better as a whole. I didn't mind about half of the tracks from Released, but couldn't stand Destruction Comes.

I remember seeing the Human Sacrifice CD at a local Christian Book store. The guy who worked the music dept. showed me the new CD and we were freaking out that the cover was so gnarly, especially for a Christian band being sold along side Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith. I bought the CD in spite of the stunned look and commentary of the older lady at the cash register. I vividly remember playing that CD for the first time and as a previous post said it leaped out of the speakers with a ferocity and urgency that I had never heard before. Needless to say I was hooked and so began my journey into heavier musical realms.

Vengeance Rising - Anthology (Intense) 1993

1. Warfare
2. Before The Time
3. Human Sacrifice
4. You Will Be Hated
5. Into The Abyss
6. You Can't Stop It
7. White Throne
8. Can't Get Out
9. Bishop Of Souls
10. Out Of The Will
11. Countless Corpses
12. Mulligan's Stew
13. Instruments Of Death

At this point Vengeance Rising was on hiatus. Roger Martinez had flaked out and was hating the world. As such, Intense Records put out this 'best of' compilation. Quite frankly, it's a very uneven and awkward compilation. While there are some great songs here, the fact that the songs just seem to be haphazardly thrown together makes for a tough listen. Each of the four Vengeance Rising albums were very different from one another, with each having stark differences in recording quality and production as well. Had the label chosen to put the songs in some sort of chronological order, I think the over album would have been better. Cheap packaging to boot. Lyrics are included, but not much else in the way of liner notes or photos.

This would be the last Vengeance Rising release until the 2004 reunion of the Human Sacrifice line-up and the release of the DVD, though the band would change their name just before the show to Once Dead.

Sorry ult I have failed.

The only thing I dont own of theirs.I figured it was pointless.

Sorry, Once Dead is not and never will be VR without Roger Rising!!! Even though I think Once Dead slays.

Two separate bands.

I can't argue with that. But it still aint VR without him.

ok, that's why it was called once dead, but the DVD is still the vr reunion show. larry, doug, glen and roger dale were the original band.

I'll do the reunion DVD review and also the visions of hell album as a epilogue to VR soon dudes.


About the anthology disc, I never got it because I had heard alot of those KMG issues were missing tracks on their regular album reissues not to mention sported skimpy liner notes. I figured I would just pick up the originals of the VR albums I was missing at the time which were the later Roger rising records.

Olafsto wrote:

Quote:

Do those of you who love this band, think you would like them just as much if you heard them for the first time today and had no idea they were a christian band?

Completely missed this months ago...

Fair question. Here's my answer.

Human Sacrifice - I wouldn't like as much because it's too raw and not as melodic.

Once Dead - I would still LOVE this album. It's really, really good.

Destruction Comes - By the time this came out I was such a fan boy that I loved it and ate it up. I still like it, but I think I would dismiss it if I'd heard it for the first time now.

Released Upon the Earth - Loved it then, love it now. It has aged very well in my ears.