| Musical Style: Hard Rock | Produced By: Darrell Mansfield, Eric Turner & Doug Doyle |
| Record Label: Broken | Country Of Origin: USA |
| Year Released: 1985 | Artist Website: Darrell Mansfield |
| Tracks: 9 | Rating: 75% |
| Running Time: 39:15 |
After Darrell Mansfield became a Christian in 1972, he joined the band Gentle Faith in 1974 which proceeded to release its self-titled debut two years later. Leaving Gentle Faith to record a solo album entitled Higher Power (1979), Mansfield went on to form the Darrell Mansfield Band and subsequently put out two critically acclaimed albums in Get Ready (1980) and The Vision (1983). An evangelist by calling, Mansfield cannot think of any better way to share the Gospel than rock n' roll, his motto to become all things to all people that you might win some. Hence, Mansfield considers himself a fisher of men, and in 1985 he recorded his heaviest album to date in Revelation because, in his words, the fish started biting hard rock.
I might describe Revelation as blues based hard rock bordering on heavy metal that serves to showcase the soulful and gritty lead vocal abilities of Darrell Mansfield. Mansfield demonstrates in no uncertain terms that hard rock and the harmonica go hand in hand, his red hot work on harmonica spicing up the tracks "Give It Up" and "Don't Let Them Stand In Your Way". While Eric Turner does a very fine job contributing the majority of the albums rhythm and lead guitar work, the talented Paul Gilbert (Racer X, Mr. Big) makes a guest appearance on "After The Storm" and "Jesus Will Reign" with his incredible lightning-like riffing. Drummer Teri Bryant and bassist Jeff Nicholson comprise a tight sounding rhythm section.
Revelation stands out with a crisp and clean sounding production job. An ample amount of rhythm guitar accents a fluid mix of lead guitar. The bass stands out full and heavy. The drums, on the other hand, could have projected a bit more punch and power.
The album artwork to Revelation features a very well done interpretation of Revelation 1-13-16.
Introduced to a flashy open air guitar solo, “Thunder N’ Lightning” transitions to a bit of guitar feedback and a voice counting to four. The crisp rhythm guitar that steps forward proceeds to propel the song with an abundance of energy to a strong powerfully delivered chorus. Turner tops things off with several seconds of blazing lead guitar work.
"After The Storm" embarks to several seconds of catchy rhythm guitar harmony before a near perfect mix of guitar and bass leads the way to an infectious chorus with a catchy refuse to go away hook. Gilbert takes center stage with his blistering lead guitar work during a minute long instrumental break.
Subsequent to the hard rocking "Running" opening to a scream from Mansfield, a heavy duty bass line kicks in and helps take it to a chorus backed by just the right amount of grit-flavored vocal harmonies. Turner brings out the best in the song with his bluesy lead guitar work.
Mansfield's spicy harmonica interweaves with a crunchy rhythm guitar during the introduction to "Give It Up". The harmonica, however, drops from the mix as the song reaches its first verse only to return and help bring out the best in a chorus resonating a laid back and bluesy feel. As "Give It Up" reaches its instrumental passage, Mansfield uses his harmonica to mimic the sound of an electric guitar.
"Bible Study", a parody of an old fifties song written by Eddie Cochran entitled "Come On Everybody", takes a tongue and cheek approach to young people in school who, if there is not a football game to attend on Friday night, are out partying. On the other hand, what do the Christian kids do on Friday night? They say "Let's have a Bible study!" After "Bible Study" launches into a hard rocking drum beat, it advances in a guitar driven manner until it peaks for a chorus carried at a good upbeat tempo. At its halfway point, the song breaks for a cool trade off between Mansfield and loudly shouted background vocals:
We don't need no drugs! (NO!)
We don't need no dope! (NO!)
"Jesus Will Reign" takes off to a full bore metal guitar riff before slowing slightly upon reaching its first verse. As the song picks up in pace, it transitions to a sweeping chorus with a worshipful message:
Jesus will reign
Holy is his name
Worthy is the lamb
Satan will not stand
Gilbert pulls out all the stops with a minute of intense neo-classical influenced lead guitar work.
The mundane hard rocker "Tokyo", while by no means a throwaway, does not stand out in the same noteworthy manner as the albums stronger material. Moving forward to a crunchy rhythm guitar during its verse, "Tokyo" slows for a chorus in which the rhythm guitar takes a backseat in the mix. The emotional flavored background vocals punctuating the song over its last thirty seconds are way overdone.
"Don't Let Them Stand In Your Way" gradually fades in before a hard and heavy riff propels it at an even mid-tempo pace to a gritty guitar driven chorus. Mansfield really stands out on this track with his red hot work on harmonica.
The semi-ballad "Waiting" stands out with its superlative melody line. Beginning to a slowly played acoustic guitar, "Waiting" gradually builds in momentum until the rhythm guitar steps forward just before it picks up in pace for a catchy and emotionally charged chorus. Turner's bluesy lead guitar work helps to place "Waiting" among the albums better tracks.
Revelation does a good job combining Mansfield's raspy lead vocal style with the top notch lead guitar work of Eric Turner and Paul Gilbert. From front to back the album proves a consistent effort with "Thunder N' Lightning, "After The Storm", "Jesus Will Reign" and "Waiting" standing out as the albums most noteworthy tracks. I find it disappointing that Mansfield never recorded another hard rock album because his blues soaked voice complements the genre perfectly. (Mansfield later recorded several tracks with guitar hero Joey Taffola that were never released.)
After being initially released only on vinyl, Revelation was later re-issued on CD by Son Records in 1997.
Review by: Andrew Rockwell
Track Listing: "Thunder ‘N Lightning" (4:48), "After The Storm" (4:44), "Runnin’" (3:00), "Give It Up" (3:48), "Bible Study" (4:18), "Jesus Will Reign" (4:31), "Tokyo" (3:49), "Don’t Let Them Stand In Your Way" (4:07), "Waiting" (6:05)
Musicians
Darrell Mansfield – Lead Vocals & Harmonica
Eric Turner – Guitars
Jeff Nicholson – Bass
Terl Bryant – Drums & Percussion
Guest Musicians
Paul Gilbert - Guitars
Reference List
Arnold, Christy. "Darrell Mansfield Interview." Take A Stand (March 1988): 1-2.
Crothers, Kevin. "Darrell Mansfield." White Throne 1 (1986): 7-8.
Hertenstein, Mike. "Darrell Mansfield Interview." Cornerstone 73 (1985): 49-50.
"Metal Tracks." Heaven's Metal 20 (1989): 20.
"The Darrell Mansfield Band." Heaven's Metal 15 (1988): 31-34.
