Barnabas

Just put on Feel the Fire/Little Foxes. After the first run through of the crucifixion trilogy, I hit the button to start it all over again. These guys/gal were brilliant, just brilliant. Why does no one appreciate or remember them?

I like them, but I never really spent much time listening to those reissues. I guess they aren't as well loved for me because the band was already gone by the time I discovered their music.

The only one I have is the Feel the Fire/Little Foxes reissue and it is fantastic.
The music is great, the vocals are outstanding. Great melody and variety.

Then someone gave me a copy of the comp of their earlier two albums (Hear the Light/Find Your Heart a Home). I could not get into those recordings at all.

I have been told I need to check out "Approaching Light Speed" but I have not been successful in getting my grubby little hands on a copy.

I've got the rerelease of Feel The Fire/Little Foxes, and although the music is good, I can't seem to listen to it much........... not sure why.

Fundy

I too only have the Feel The Fire/Little Foxes re-release. I listen to it occasionally. I like it a lot. I bought it after hearing Breathless Wonderment on the Heaven's Metal compilation back in the day. That's still my favorite Barnabas tune. But I love their sledgehammer-in-the-face lyrics and monstrous riffs. They also had those huge 80's drums that blow you off the chair.

Big Barnabas fan here! I would love to hear Approaching Light Speed someday.

Barnabas brings back a lot of good memories. I might describe "Approaching Light Speed" as the first Christian album to showcase a metal guitar sound. Guitarist Brian Belew, for a lack of better words, is quite the underrated guitarist.

I would also rate "Breathless Wonderment" among the greatest Christian metal songs of all time.

"Little Foxes" is good but not quite on par with "Feel The Fire" and "ALS" (IMHO).

My perspective is different, because I was with them from the start. Hear The Light was my very first rock record. At least the first that I could call my own, not the Queen or Kiss or Foghat that my mom had. They were also Christians with VERY straightforward lyrics, which I appreciated very much. I loved that album, and played it hundreds of times.

It's different from the rest because Monty Cooley wrote that record. It was all him. FYHAH was a transition record. Some good stuff, but the band was trying to find out what it meant to make a Barnabas record, rather than just recording Monty's tunes.

Approaching Light Speed is their classic. I have it playing right now, and it is simply brilliant. For those of you who don't have it, let me know and I'll get it to you. I doubt anyone would mind.

In fact, I KNOW Kris and Nancyjo would be thrilled that people are still hearing the tunes. They never made any real money on them back then, and they certainly are not cashing any royalty check now. I could ask them, but I know what the answer would be. They just want to know that people are still digging the songs.

Hit me up. I'll get you ALS if you want.

And then track it down and buy it. You won't regret it.

Dynamis wrote:

"Little Foxes" is good but not quite on par with "Feel The Fire" and "ALS" (IMHO).

The band was breaking up while recoprding LF. Brian had a lot of good guitar licks that he brought in, but the rest of the band were operating under great duress. Lots of reasons for that, but it really shows on the album. A lot of stuff on LF was phoned in, but it still turned out great.

I'll have to get the reissues out tomorrow and give a listen just because you brought these guys (and girl) up.

I thought heard that Approaching Light Speed was supposed to get re-released on Retroactive this year (or maybe it was the next).

alldatndensum wrote:

I'll have to get the reissues out tomorrow and give a listen just because you brought these guys (and girl) up.

Do it... They were a bunch of messed up rockers who had been saved by God grace. This was when Christian Rock was real, on both fronts.

Staybrite wrote:

I thought heard that Approaching Light Speed was supposed to get re-released on Retroactive this year (or maybe it was the next).

Again? News to me...

Actually, ALS came out pretty good. There were two very egregious mistakes on Little Foxes that I still have not gotten over. If they reissue anything again, it should be that one.

Great band. Have plenty of Feel the Fire on vinyl, sealed, if anyone is looking for a copy. Have a few of Approaching Light Speed, though I do believe those are all open. Might be a good way to get a cd copy, burn your own that way, if you haven't spent the money on the re-issue.

Quote :

I bought it after hearing Breathless Wonderment on the Heaven's Metal compilation back in the day.

Me too! That was an awesome song. Played that to death.

Fundy

Why I don't remember Barnabas is because those albums were released long, long before I was interested in Christian music.
Now I hope to find online samples to listen how this band sounds.
Their music is OOP I assume?

I'm sure Barnabas is great old school rock.

The albums did come out many years ago when dinosaurs roamed the earth....dinosaurs like Petra, Rez, etc.

I'm sure that TallT can tell you where to hear the band. You might can still find the Retroactive Records reissues online somewhere.

Quote :

The albums did come out many years ago when dinosaurs roamed the earth....dinosaurs like Petra, Rez, etc

Found some Barnabas stuff at Amazon, but no samples to listen too.

Nick, do you know where I can listen to samples of Barnabas?

BREATHLESS WONDERMENT

I'm listening to the "Feel The Fire/Little Foxes" reissue right now. I can't even remember these songs, and I know I played the CD when I got it.

I like what they are doing, but the music just seems VERY dated now. I probably would have loved them had I heard them originally back in the day. As it stands, I like them and will play this every once in a blue moon. I wouldn't call this my favorite band by any means.

I'm listening to some Barnabas on You Tube.
Thanks Fundy.

"Feel The Fire/Little Foxes" were albums released in 1984 and 1986.
Now wonder they sound dated.

Was Barnabas one of the first Christian hard rock bands when they released their Self Titled album in 1980?

Petra beat them by many years. So did Resurrection Band and the Daniel Band.

Daniel Band was not before Barnabas.

Despite what YouTube says, Hear the Light was originally released on Tunesmith records in 1978. On Rock was released in 1982.

Rez and Petra were in action before Barnabas, though.

Petra was never as hard as Barnabas until at least 1987. In fact, On Fire in 1988 may be the only thing that's quite as metal as Barnabas. I don't know much about early Rez and its heaviness.

Barnabas was indeed one of the very first Christian metal bands.

Did people even consider Rez a "Heavy Metal" band back in the late 70's early 90's?

I know nobody would consider Rez "metal" today, but it seems the definition of "metal" has changed considerably in the last 20 to 30 years.

I considered Rez metal back then. The line between metal and hard rock was pretty unclear BITD.