{"id":18201,"date":"2014-04-01T00:00:20","date_gmt":"2014-04-01T00:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=18201"},"modified":"2014-04-07T22:00:34","modified_gmt":"2014-04-07T22:00:34","slug":"album-review-taker-it-is-finished","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-taker-it-is-finished\/","title":{"rendered":"TAKER – It Is Finished: The Complete Anthology (2014) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAKER
It Is Finished \u2013 The Complete Anthology<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nRoxx (2014)<\/span>
Rating: 5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Virginia\u2019s Taker may not have been the name on everyone\u2019s lips back in the 1980s metal scene, but during that time they released two solid demo cassette EPs \u2013 the first, dubbed Mathew 11:12<\/em>, in 1987, and Blood<\/em> in 1989 \u2013 and appeared on a couple of Christian metal compilation albums. Sadly, 1989 would be the last time that Taker would release anything before parting ways.<\/p>\n

However, Taker is now back with It Is Finished<\/em>, a 14-track anthology album featuring remastered material from the aforementioned releases, plus a couple of re-recorded songs.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s fair to say that Christian metal bands never got the credit they deserved all those years ago, and yet the likes of Bloodgood and Believer are up there with my favourite bands. Taker, I have to admit, slipped under my radar all those years ago, with only the song \u2018Open Your Heart\u2019 passing by my ears.<\/p>\n

\u2018Open Your Heart\u2019 actually opens up the record, and features some nice variations as the band mix traditional metal with gothic strains and then heavier moments. Admittedly, Kevin Potter\u2019s vocals can be a mixed bag at times, one moment ushering themselves in with a rather cheesy whisper, the next going for a full throttle power metal-styled wail. \u2018Open Your Heart\u2019 exhibits the inconsistent nature of not just Potter but the band in general, though it\u2019s still a half-decent track featuring a tidy bass from Dan Wilkinson and sterling guitar work courtesy of Robert Bussey.<\/p>\n

Next up is \u2018He Is The Light\u2019, which comes in via a nice solo before the band begin their journey into the land of plod. \u2018Yesterday, Today And Forever\u2019 and \u201811 O\u2019Clock News\u2019 complete the quartet of tracks from the band\u2019s 1987 debut demo, with the latter being the pick of the two featuring a deadly riff and weighty drum crash from Charlie Osterhoudt.<\/p>\n

\u2018Look Into His Eyes\u2019 is another rollicking number and first appeared on the 1988 White Metal Invasion<\/em> compilation album, but the tracks which intrigued me more than any other are the November 1987 re-recordings of \u2018He Is The Light\u2019 and \u2018Open Your Heart\u2019. The pair benefit from the tweaks made in the production, enabling Kevin Potter\u2019s vocals to be delivered with more attitude and the drums to rage harder.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s still debatable as to whether Taker\u2019s material has stood the test of time, but throughout this album there is that nostalgic feel with that basement type quality to most of the recordings. When the band are good the riffs and the percussion are solid, but when they are bad the songs really do suffer.<\/p>\n

This is apparent on the rather tragic warble of \u2018The Measure\u2019, which kicks off the batch of songs from the 1989 Blood<\/em> demo EP featuring singer Rob Kreiner. Vocally, this really is poor as Kreiner rarely manages to keep in tune over the able guitars, which seem lost in the mix. \u2018Blood\u2019 features a nice intro of sweet acoustic guitar and Kreiner\u2019s gothic murmur, and the riff is executed well which enables this to be the best track from the demo. However, \u2018Overcomer\u2019s Anthem\u2019 and \u2018Into the Throneroom \/ A New Song\u2019 come across as rather bog-standard metal belches that lack bite, and suffer from the agonising vocals which only seem to work when they are delivered at high pitch.<\/p>\n

The two Taker songs featured on the 1989 East Coast Metal<\/em> compilation \u2013 \u2018Living By Faith\u2019 and a re-recorded version of \u2018Yesterday, Today And Forever\u2019 \u2013 are also included. While there is also a live rehearsal recording of \u2018Living By Faith\u2019 from 1987 featuring Mike Miley on drums.<\/p>\n

It Is Finished<\/em> is a great way of collating all of Taker\u2019s obscure recordings, and it\u2019s vital that bands of this ilk that were so fleeting are able to be remembered in this way, but musically this forgotten combo rarely provide a light in the darkness.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TAKERIt Is Finished \u2013 The Complete Anthology Roxx (2014)Rating: 5\/10 Virginia\u2019s Taker may not have been the name on everyone\u2019s lips back in the 1980s metal scene, but during that time they released two solid demo cassette EPs \u2013 the first, dubbed Mathew 11:12, in 1987, and Blood in 1989 \u2013 and appeared on a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1151],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-taker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18201"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18226,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18201\/revisions\/18226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}