Believer "Dimensions (USA, Rex Music, 7901427086)"

Dimensions is the third album by the American Christian thrash metal band Believer, released in 1993 on both Roadrunner Records and R.E.X. Records. The album's last song, "Trilogy of Knowledge", is split into four separate parts and tells of the life of Jesus Christ. The lyrics recount events from the Bible (often expressed in first person), and include opera vocals, orchestral instruments, acoustic guitars, distorted guitars, and more. Although the album was critically lauded, the band disbanded the following year, but reformed in 2005.

The pre-production of Dimensions was recorded at Trauma Studios, and was produced by The Trauma Team and Ted Hermanson who did the engineering, assisted by the drummer Joey Daub. Wyatt Robertson and David Baddorf left Believer before the band began recording Dimensions. Jim Winters joined as bassist and also played some guitar parts during the recording sessions. On this album, Glenn Fischbach played cello, Scott Laird played violins and violas, and Julianne Laird Hoge performed soprano vocals. During the recording, the band members would assign a time signature to a set of dice and would write a part in that signature if they were stuck. The album was mastered at The Hit Factory, DMS, New York, by Chris Gehringer. The cover art and illustration was done by Dave McKean.

The album was released in 1993 and turned out to be the band's most technical, progressive, and ambitious album. Both Roadrunner Records and R.E.X. Records released it with a different cover art.

The lyrics on Dimensions deal with philosophy. For example, on the song "Dimentia" the lyrics deal with the philosophical paradoxes and the ponderings of Sigmund Freud, Thomas J. J. Altizer, Ludwig Feuerbach and Jean-Paul Sartre about the existence of God. The song specifically quotes Altizer's The Gospel of Christian Atheism, Sartre's Being and Nothingness, Feuerbach's The Essence of Christianity, and Freud's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.

The symphonic metal suite "Trilogy of Knowledge", divided to three chapters and an intro, is an over 20 minute epic and Biblical story about life of Jesus Christ and knowledge of good and evil. "Trilogy of Knowledge" once again featured the orchestral compositions of Scott Laird and soprano vocals by Julianne Laird Hoge.

While some fans preferred Sanity Obscure over Dimensions, the critics considered Dimensions as the album that separated Believer from average thrash metal groups, and praised the album's musical output. Tom MacMillan of The Phantom Tollbooth claims that "Believer's last offering to the musical world proved a metal classic" and "Dimensions is one of the greatest progressive metal albums of all time." Rating the album 5/5, MacMillan writes:

Believer were masters at molding emotion and developing mood in songwriting. Immediately, the band stands out. The vocals are excellent, well-performed, and not as unpleasant as one might think growling to be. The lead guitar parts, performed by Kurt Bachman, are amazing; unrestrained without being pompous. Jim Winters matches the skill and precision of Bachman in a similar way with his bass guitar.

Matt Anderson of Cross Rhythms also gave the album a perfect score, concluding that Dimensions was "A brilliant album. Only Believer could have dreamt up such an album." AllMusic highlighted the 20-minute "Trilogy of Knowledge."

Jeff Wagner stated in the book Mean Deviation: Four Decades of Progressive Heavy Metal that "as tech metal albums go, it is a masterpiece of frigid guitar tones, warped riffs, and constant tempo changes," and "with Dimensions, Believer had borne a dense, challenging monolith of progressive metal that has few equals, even years later."

Track listing

1. "Gone" (K. Bachman/ J. Winters) – 5:47
2. "Future Mind" (K. Bachman/ J. Daub/ J. Winters)- 5:34
3. "Dimentia" (K.Bachman/ J. Daub/ J.Winters/ D. Man)- 5:36
4. "What Is But Cannot Not Be" (K. Bachman/ J. Daub/ J.Winters/ D. Man) – 5:28
5. "Singularity" (K.Bachman/ J.Winters/ D. Man) – 4:24
6. "No Apology" (K.Bachman/ J. Daub/ J.Winters/ D. Man/ D. Baddorf) – 4:55
7. "Trilogy of Knowledge: Intro: The Birth" – 2:17 (S. Laird/ K. Bachman/ J. Daub/ J. Winters)
8. "Trilogy of Knowledge: Movement I: The Lie" – 5:27 (S. Laird/ K. Bachman/ J. Daub/ J. Winters)
9. "Trilogy of Knowledge: Movement II: The Truth" – 6:46 (S. Laird/ K. Bachman/ J. Daub/ J. Winters)
10. "Trilogy of Knowledge: Movement III: The Key" – 6:21 (S. Laird/ K. Bachman/ J. Daub/ J. Winters)

Time: 52:42

Recording information:

- Pre-produced & recorded at Trauma Studios, Colbrook, PA.

- Mastered at The Hit Factory DMS, New York.

- Ted Hermanson & The Trauma Team – production and engineering

- Chris Gerhinger – mastering

- Dave McKean – cover art (Roadrunner version)

Believer "Gabriel (USA, Metal Blade Records, 3984-14715-2)"

Gabriel is the fourth full-length album by the American technical thrash metal band Believer, released on March 17, 2009 on Cesspool Recordings, an imprint of Metal Blade Records. A comeback album, it is the band's first new release since 1993. The album was met with mostly positive reviews.

Recorded in late 2008, on Gabriel the band line-up consists of Kurt Bachman (vocals, guitar), Joey Daub (drums), Jeff King (keyboards, of Fountain of Tears fame), Kevin Leaman (guitar), and Elton Nestler (bass). Scott Laird (violin) and Jim Winters (guitar)—who both played with the band previously—also contributed to the album as session musicians. William Keller was an additional session player (voices on Dimensions). Deron Miller of CKY played some guitar parts and went to comment that "Believer have been one of my favorite bands for 20 years so this is really exciting for me. Check out the three records they did in the '90s... All three are works of genius." Other guest performances were done by Joe Rico of the band Sacrifice, with whom Believer toured in the early 1990s, and Rocky Gray of Living Sacrifice. Believer signed with Metal Blade Records' imprint Cesspool Recordings, owned by Killswitch Engage vocalist Howard Jones who commented: "Somehow I got lucky enough to stumble across a reactivated Believer who has always been a band that got and still gets repeated listens from me. Great band and even better people, and they truly bring a unique quality of musicianship back into the metal music genre. I'm truly excited to see them on stage again." Jones contributed some guest vocals for the song "The Brave".

An unmastered version of the song "Medwton" from the album premiered on Bam Margera's Radio Bam show on November 17. Deron Miller wanted to play the song on the show since he played guitar solo on it. The tracks "Focused Lethality" and "Stoned" were released as singles.

Eye Level Studios created the album's artwork; a live model was masked and photographed wearing actual horns. In an interview with Fazer magazine, Bachman stated they plan to release an artbook based on the cover art with Eye Level Studios.

Kurt Bachman commented that the album sounds like a "sick, insane cross between Tool, Voivod, Nine Inch Nails and Destruction." Bachman commented the album's musical style:

“ We think that fans will hear some of each record but the writing is a bit different. It's still Believer but we wanted to offer something new as we have in the past. Some people would like us to put out another Sanity Obscure or Dimensions but we didn't want to rehash the past. Those close to us have said that the new material sounds like a natural progression from 'Dimensions'. We wanted to have fun with this and get back to our emotional metal roots. Getting together to write and record was exciting. It's when the creativity and insanity was let loose. ”— Kurt Bachman on the Gabriel's musical direction in Decibel magazine.

 The critical reception of the album has been positive. Greg Prato of AllMusic gave the album 3.5 points out of 5 commenting that, despite being 16 years in silence, Believer is "automatically back in business." Prato notices that the album is closer to the band's origins, as it contains "few nods to vintage late-'80s/early-'90s metal" although "a challenging, almost proggy edge can be detected in all the manic six-string riffing and growling, especially on such tracks as the album-opening "Medwton," plus "Focused Lethality" and the slowly building "The Brave."

Justin Donnelly of Blistering magazine gave the album 8 out of 10. Pointing out that each song on the album is unique and contain different ideas, he states that the experimental “Redshift” is "quite possibly one of the album’s most memorable efforts with its huge infectious chugging riffs, swathes of melodic keyboards and its reoccurring breakdown passages where the bass and drums provide some cool breathing space." Trey Spencer of Sputnikmusic gave the album four out of five points and noted: "As odd as it might sound, this album is actually a breath of fresh air for a metal community that is becoming increasingly stagnant. With Gabriel the band has managed to bring back that old-school thrash sound, but also mix in a large dose of technicality and originality while still sounding very current."

Chris Beck of HM wrote that "Fifteen years is a long time. Long enough to forget just how brutal Believer’s music was, how insane Joey Daub’s drumming was and how the band composed riffs so technical that most other bands wouldn’t have dreamed of playing them." He also stated that "Gabriel could easily have been released years ago as the immediate follow-up to Dimensions" and praised the album: "Metal isn’t supposed to sound this good." Criticism was given for the elements of keyboard, sound and voice programming throughout that Beck felt were "slightly overused" as he wished that the band would have "let the music stand by itself". Beck concludes that "this is unmistakably Believer, and unmistakably a great album." AOL listed the artwork for Gabriel among "ten best album covers of 2009 so far" list. Exclaim! concluded that "Like its namesake angel, Gabriel is a messenger from the prog-metal gods that Believer are back with the heaviest album of their career."

Not all reviewers were excited about the album; an Abort magazine editor commented that Gabriel is "a well-intentioned if somewhat bland return to form".

Track listing

1. Medwton - 7:23
2. A Moment In Prime - 6:07
3. Stoned - 4:32
4. Redshift - 5:21
5. History of Decline - 3:49
6. The Need For Conflict - 5:14
7. Focused Lethality - 3:46
8. Shut Out The Sun - 5:38
9. The Brave - 4:19
10. Nonsense Mediated Decay - 8:49

iTunes Bonus Tracks

1. Circus - 0:23
2. Coordinates - 0:28
3. Freedom - 4:57

An exclusive download video clip was made available by Decibel mag; it's basically a clip about the making of the album cover, with one of the songs off the album on top.

Recording information:

Recorded at Trauma studios from November 2007 - November 2008.

Mixed by the Trauma team.

Mastered at West West Side Music.

Various Artists "At Death's Door (A Collection Of Brutal Death Metal)"

At Death's Door is a 1990 compilation of Death/Thrash Metal bands. Released by Roadrunner Records.

Tracklist:

1. Sepultura - Mass Hypnosis 4:23
2. Pestilence - Out Of The Body 4:38
3. Deicide - Dead By Dawn 3:53
4. Morgoth - Burnt Identity 3:51
5. Sadus - Last Abide  2:16
6. Exhorder - Desecrator 6:09
7. Death - Open Casket 4:53
8. Obituary - Til Death 3:55
9. Malevolent Creation - Decadence Within 4:21
10. Believer - Not Even One 3:34
11. Cerebral Fix - Culte Des Mortes 5:49
12. Atrocity - Deep In Your Subconscious 5:23

Time: 53:09

Track 1 taken from the remastered LP "Beneath The Remains".

Track 2 taken from the LP "Consuming Impulse".

Track 3 taken from the LP "Deicide".

Track 4 taken from the EP "The Eternal Fall".

Track 5 taken from the LP "Swallowed In Black".

Track 6 is a rough mix from the forthcoming LP "Slaughter In The Vatican".

Track 7 taken from the LP "Leprosy".

Track 8 taken from the LP "Slowly We Rot".

Track 9 taken from 1990 demo.

Track 10 taken from the LP "Extraction From Mortality".

Track 11 taken from the forthcoming LP "Tower Of Spite".

Track 12 taken from the LP "Hallucinations".

Assembled at Fullersound, Miami, Florida.

All songs published by Roadblock Music (ASCAP), except:

track 4 published by Robert Kampf, Magic Arts, Century Media Records, WG

track 5 published by Roadblock Music/Smoke Four OB's (ASCAP)

track 7 published by Theory Music (BMI)

track 8 published by Roadcrew Music (BMI)

track 10 published by Jambox Music (ASCAP)

track 12 published by Blast Publishing

Made in U.S.A.

Believer "Dimensions (USA, Roadrunner Records, RR 9101-2)"

Dimensions is the third album by the Christian progressive thrash metal band Believer, released in 1993 on both Roadrunner Records and R.E.X. Records. The album's last song, "Trilogy of Knowledge", is split into four separate parts and tells of the life of Jesus Christ. The lyrics recount events from the Bible (often expressed in first person), and include opera vocals, orchestral instruments, acoustic guitars, distorted guitars, and more. Although the album was critically lauded, the band disbanded the following year, but reformed in 2005.

The pre-production of Dimensions was recorded at Trauma Studios, and was produced by The Trauma Team and Ted Hermanson who did the engineering, assisted by the drummer Joey Daub. Wyatt Robertson and David Baddorf left Believer before the band began recording Dimensions. Jim Winters joined as bassist and also played some guitar parts during the recording sessions. On this album, Glenn Fischbach played cello, Scott Laird played violins and violas, and Julianne Laird Hoge performed soprano vocals. The album was mastered at The Hit Factory, DMS, New York, by Chris Gehringer. The cover art and illustration was done by Dave McKean.

The album was released in 1993 and turned out to be the band's most technical, progressive, and ambitious album. Both Roadrunner Records and R.E.X. Records released it with a different cover art.

The lyrics on Dimensions deal with philosophy. For example, on the song "Dimentia" the lyrics deal with the philosophical paradoxes and the ponderings of Sigmund Freud, Thomas J. J. Altizer, Ludwig Feuerbach and Jean-Paul Sartre about the existence of God. The song specifically quotes Altizer's The Gospel of Christian Atheism, Sartre's Being and Nothingness, Feuerbach's The Essence of Christianity, and Freud's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.

The symphonic metal suite ”Trilogy of Knowledge”, divided to three chapters and an intro, is an over 20 minute epic and Biblical story about life of Jesus Christ and knowledge of good and evil. ”Trilogy of Knowledge” once again featured the orchestral compositions of Scott Laird and soprano vocals by Julianne Laird Hoge.

Track listing

1. "Gone" (K. Bachman/ J. Winters) – 5:47
2. "Future Mind" (K. Bachman/ J. Daub/ J. Winters)- 5:34
3. "Dimentia" (K.Bachman/ J. Daub/ J.Winters/ D. Man)- 5:36
4. "What Is But Cannot Not Be" (K. Bachman/ J. Daub/ J.Winters/ D. Man) – 5:28
5. "Singularity" (K.Bachman/ J.Winters/ D. Man) – 4:24
6. "No Apology" (K.Bachman/ J. Daub/ J.Winters/ D. Man/ D. Baddorf) – 4:55
7. "Trilogy of Knowledge: Intro: The Birth" – 2:17 (S. Laird/ K. Bachman/ J. Daub/ J. Winters)
8. "Trilogy of Knowledge: Movement I: The Lie" – 5:27 (S. Laird/ K. Bachman/ J. Daub/ J. Winters)
9. "Trilogy of Knowledge: Movement II: The Truth" – 6:46 (S. Laird/ K. Bachman/ J. Daub/ J. Winters)
10. "Trilogy of Knowledge: Movement III: The Key" – 6:21 (S. Laird/ K. Bachman/ J. Daub/ J. Winters)

Time:  52:42

Instead of the label code being printed as 9321, it's printed as 9231 on the back cover & CD.

Re-released December 2004 by Retroactive Records limited to 1000 copies, with three bonus tracks taken from a show 31 October 1989:

12) Blemished Sacrifices (live)

13) The Chosen (live)

14) Stress (live)

(The 11th track is five seconds long and is present on all versions of the album, but is just a band member saying "We love you, take care, bye bye".)

Recording information:

Preproduction recorded at Trauma Studios.

Mastered at The Hit Factory.