Saint - Desperate Night

I like Saint. A forgotten christian metal outfit that was/is just as good as any of their counterparts. The band's 2010 record, Hell Blade, was a great throwback metal record that fans of Judas Priest, Sabbath, and Dio would love.

So naturally my excitement for Desperate Night was high.

Desperate Night is a clunker... Sort of.

There are some good moments... Although I'm not sure any of those moments is a whole song. And every one of Jerry Johnson's guitar solos is on point. But there's just something about Desperate Night that doesn't work for me.

This isn't like Stryper's 2009 release, Murder By Pride, where the band abandons what it does well, but there is some of that. Saint is trying to balance being a hard rock band and a glam metal band. At times it feels like they've pulled it off, but mostly the chunky, hard rock, drop d guitar riffs that drive the verses don't really match well with the guitar solos and glam riffs. Sometimes it sounds like Judas Priest or even Heave and Hell but sometimes it's disjointed.

Crusified starts Desperate Night on a pretty high note. The track is solid and while the heavy verse riff isn't my favorite, the song is driving and sounds like glam metal in 2012 should probably sound like. The Key... Well, I'm not a huge fan of The Key. It's full on cock rock. And that's kind of how the record goes. It's back and forth between a song that's decent and a song that's less than stellar.

Some decent moments but nothing great about Saint's latest effort. A real disappointment in my book.