Saint

Item: Too Late for Living
Author: Daniel Baillod

Too Late for Living

(1988)

Reviewed by Daniel Baillod

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Label Pure Metal RecordsAdonai Metal Rock #21989

heavy metal melodic metal speed metal

Translated from the original French

AAAARGH!! The sleeve does not seem very white... A cemetery under a stormy sky... Humour all the same, with inscriptions on the gravestones (R.U. NECST - Rip If You Can / and... Too Late For Living). Concept album? Not really. In fact, the only track that has anything to do with the sleeve is "Too Late For Living": it is the story of a guy who, at a time when life was smiling on him in every way, kills himself in a car accident... Too late for living! SAINT has come on a great deal since "Time's End", as much lyrically as musically. "Too Late For Living" has the benefit of a very good production, Richard Lynch (SAINT's bassist) being partly responsible for it. The most remarkable thing on this new SAINT album is the sensational arrival of the new guitarist Dee Harrington (ex-HOLY DANGER, another WM band). Dee Harrington has done remarkable work on the album ("Star Pilot", "The Rock", "On The Street", "The Path"...), and particularly on the instrumental "Returning". On the drum side, it is excellent ("Returning", "On The Street", "Through The Sky"): John "The Machine" Perrine is henceforth one of the best drummers in Christian metal. That said, SAINT's metal is very heavy; and apart from "Too Late For Living" and "The War Is Over", which are more commercial (worth noting that these two tracks were written by Josh Kramer, the singer), SAINT is absolutely not aiming at the Top 40... No danger of that. It is heavy the way we like it, in the line of Judas Priest. Besides, the band does not hide it... At a pinch, SAINT is the Judas Priest of Christian metal! Even Josh Kramer's vocals are very influenced by Priest's, though different (fortunately!) in certain respects. Be that as it may, SAINT's howling joker offers some pretty crazy vocals ("The Path", "Too Late For Living", "Through The Sky", etc...). "Through The Sky" is perhaps the best track on the album, with a fast heavy (pseudo-thrash), blazing guitars, and vocal peaks of the kind we love round here! "Soon the world will see the face of God, raging in the sky. His eyes of fire will find you, so make your choice: live or die."