Faith Factor-Against a darkened sky

Retroactive
2008




I had never heard of this band before very recently. However the name Norm "Ski" Kiersznowski stood out to me because he sang in former New Renaissance artists Deadly Blessing back in the day. So my interested was peaked after making that connection and I was very hopeful. The album opens with the grandiose orchestral piece "Evila si eh" before giving way to the decidedly more metal "Keep it true" which comes blasting on. The music for this track is steady, but the vocals just didn't work for me. He has a good range, but the whole vocal arrangement is very uneven on this song. That being said, this was the only song on the album that did not work for me. After that the band sink their teeth in and create some blistering classic style power metal. The duel guitar attack create blistering riff after riff in an all out assault. Faith Factor gallop along forging tracks that are both heavy and melodic. They waste very little time in this effort as they are very tight and too the point in their approach. They unwind track after track of crunching and powerful music. "Against a darkened sky" is reminiscent of acts like early Fates Warning, Liege Lord, Helstar and Attacker. It is true metal music with a strong mid-1980's flavor. Now the band use very strong Christian lyrics so whether or not that works for you may depend on feelings on that matter. The album exceeded my expectations and made me a fan right away.