ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON AUG. 11, 1989
By Steve Newton
Some folks like a little sex ‘n’ violence with their heavy metal; others care for a thrashy band like Metallica that can target corruption and political greed. And there are even those who will skip the New Testament and look to a metal band for uplifting spiritual messages.
Guardian is the latest Christian metal act to come on the scene, with its debut album, First Watch, produced by Oz Fox of Stryper. But unlike the latter band, which is known to toss Bibles to the crowd during a concert, Guardian doesn’t preach much but the power of loud rock ‘n’ roll.
Hitting the Metro stage last Monday (August 7) in a flurry of feedback and flash, the shaggy-haired quartet from Orange County, California came on fast and hard in the best Van Halen tradition–and kept that pace for most of its hour-long set. Like many L.A.-area bands, Guardian has a handle on the image side of things–looking good in fashionably tattered denim and tailor-made leather–but unlike a lot of today’s glam-oriented acts, these guys have the chops to justify a healthy clothing budget.
Guitarist Tony Palacios has a frenzied fretboard style that gives Steve Vai a run for the money, and singer Paul Cawley–while a tad too cute in the Shaun Cassidy mold–has a lung capacity not to be sniffed at.
Heavy, fast-paced tunes like “Kingdom of Rock” and “Rock in Victory” went over well with the Metro crowd, which is famous for its volume fetish. During the slower and more blatantly theistic “Miracle”, about Cawley’s turning to religion, the band lost its electrical power twice and was left in darkness.
It seemed quite possible that the devil mighta done it.