Ransom

    Ransom

    Los Angeles, California7 reviews across 7 releases

    hard rockheavy metalmelodic metalmelodic rock
    Discogs

    Ransom was a Southern California Christian hard rock band formed in the mid-1980s, initially under the name First Aid, before adopting Ransom for its 1988 independent demo Once And For All. Lisa Faxon's lead voice gave the group its clearest distinction: powerful and gritty, with a broad range that could move from hard-rock attack to a cleaner worship ballad. Early songs drew from the melodic hard rock of Scorpions and UFO, with Heart-like vocal influence and occasional Guns N' Roses-style balladry. The guitar work moved from high, effect-heavy introductions to gliding solos over melodic hooks. The 1990 tape Paid in Full added keyboards without becoming techno-rock. On Ransom, the sound was tighter and more polished, with double-bass passages alongside emotional ballads. Soul Asylum retained the metal base while bringing in outside guitarists Oz Fox and Lanny Cordola.

    By 1999, Ransom had become a quintet and had shifted from melodic metal toward softer modern rock, with only occasional heavier passages such as "Soliloquy" and "Vegetables." The change placed them closer to the alternative Christian rock of the period than to the Intense-era hard rock heard earlier. Lisa Faxon later described her time in Ransom as roughly ten years spent playing with three male bandmates, and by 2010 she referred to herself as the group's former lead singer. The band was no longer active by then. The two Intense albums were later reissued, beginning with Ransom in 2011 and continuing with Soul Asylum in 2017.

    7 releases reviewed