The M8 Records Live At Cornerstone Fest 2001 series capturing live performances from classic Christian metal bands Bride, Deliverance, Sacred Warrior and others continues to age well. Even more so in light of the fact by turn of the century metal was not exactly flavor of the month or at the very least, it no longer possessed the immense popularity it enjoyed tracing to the eighties. Hence, the collaboration between M8 Distribution and Millennium Eight/Magdalene Records to host ‘80’s Metal Retro Night With M8’ at Cornerstone Festival 2001 with the goal of recording live albums of each participating artist to also include Daniel Band, Trytan, Recon and Guardian. The event proved crucial in despite a decidedly modern musical landscape of the time, it brought the old school sounds of metal back to the stage and helped reignite the fire of the genre overall!
The original limited edition CD releases from 2001 are long out of print and hard to find collectors items. Enter Retroactive Records, whom in the spring of 2025 re-mastered and reissued the Cornerstone Fest Live 2001 performances from Bride, Deliverance and Sacred Warrior on CD (500 copies & April 20 release) and vinyl (200 copies and May 20 release). Upgraded packaging and cover art attributes to Scott Waters (No Life Til Metal Graphics). Rob Colwell (Bombworks Sound) handles re-mastering for Bride and Deliverance and Steve Watkins for Sacred Warrior. Bride and Deliverance include the original write-ups and 2024 reflections from vocalists Dale Thompson and Jimmy P. Brown, respectively, while Sacred Warrior features a write up from No Life Til Metal.
By 2001 Bride was following on heels of its prime nineties era which saw it release highly regarded bluesy hard rock albums Kinetic Faith (1991), Snakes In The Playground (1992) and Scarecrow Messiah (1993) only to pursue acoustic rock with Drop (1995) and a modern inclining on The Jesus Experience (1997) and Oddities (1998). Ahead of its Cornerstone appearance, Bride put out the same year the ‘rap core’ to Fist Full Of Bees.
Live At Cornerstone Fest 2001 finds Bride sidestepping any modern or rap propensities for an old school set list that draws primary from the heavy metal to its first three albums from the eighties. Lone exception is opener “Same Ol’ Sinner”, a brilliant blues based hard rock cut initially appearing on the 1990 End Of The Age compilation but never recorded by Bride for a studio album, which makes its inclusion that much more special.
Ensuing is the catchy melodic heavy metal of “Fool Me Once” (off 1989 third album Silence Is Madness) with its fleet footed gait and spoken word vocals and bluesy metal to “Whiskey Seed” (1988 sophomore effort Live To Die) in which Bride pulls in the reins for a heavier but no less expert sound. Also from Live To Die but later in the track listing is concert staple “Hell No” with its metal anthem mentality and shouted ‘we won’t go to hell no, we won’t go’ backing vocals. The three set the stage for Dale Thompson’s professional vocal performance in which he revisits the high end style of the groups eighties material while interspersing the middle register grit of its nineties releases.
Bride moves on to a two-song suite from 1986 debut Show No Mercy. “First Will Be Last” and “Thunder In The City” prove Show No Mercy was home to first-rate material and only held back by low budget production. Former translates live with a borderline doom ambience to go with albums inherent Gothic nuances, while latter loses its piano introduction but maintains the pulse pounding power and dramatic intensity. Brother Troy Thompson presents with finely done lead guitar work either way.
Succeeding track “Until The End We Rock” might be one of my least favorite off Silence Is Madness, but Bride pulls it off with ample high-energy class (Mike Loy kills it on drums). Third and final Silence Is Madness cut “Under The Influence” ranks with my favorites from eighties era Bride with its decelerated lambasting focus and anti-drunk driving messages. Kudos to Bride for extending it past six minutes with a mid-point improvisation in which Dale segues to the rap breakdown off Silence Is Madness cohort “Evil Dreams”.
Final highlight is unreleased track “I Saw The Light / Power In The Blood” to see Bride take a hard rock worship slant reminiscent to Barren Cross’ “King Jesus Blues Jam” (off its 1990 live album Hotter Than Hell! Live). It brings similar levels of vim and vigor, revealed in Lawrence Bishop’s keyed up bass line and mid-point instrumental jam based and vocal interlude.
Performance: A
Track Listing: A-
Deliverance gained initial renown for the melodic speed metal to its first three albums only to pursue technical metal on the subsequent three. Good news is that on Live At Cornerstone Fest 2001 Deliverance performs at least one song from each of the six to create the perfect track listing. I am choosey when it comes to the songs selected for compilation and live albums, but I would not make a single change.
Cornerstone Fest 2001 represents the first time in six years Deliverance hit the stage, and they do so with a ton of class, starting to a short “Intro” ahead of launching into a rousing version to the title track of its 1992 fourth album Stay Of Execution and blistering speed metal of “No Time” off the 1989 self-titled debut. Former sees founding member Jimmy P. Brown shine with his at times soaring and others melancholic vocals and latter Manny Morales unveiling a concise bass solo. In between, Brown introduces each band member to the audience (“Introductions”) and represents only act of the three to do so, which bestows an extra live dimension to the album.
A trio of songs ensue that explore Deliverance’s mid-period, starting with the title track to 1993 fifth album Learn, a driving plodder perfectly translating live with its impactful feel, and title track to 1991 third What A Joke, another awesome live cut (noting Ian Baird’s intense drumming) with the catchy hooks and semi thrash allure to rate with Deliverance’s finest. Closing the three is “Belltown”, lone song from 1994’s River Disturbance, which surprises with its live abject heaviness compared to the dramatic heavy rock flavorings to its studio counterpart.
A Deliverance live performance would not be complete without a suite of songs from classic 1990 sophomore effort Weapons Of Our Warfare, and such is what we have starting with the accomplished “Psalm 23”. Not so much thrash as it is progressive, “Psalm 23” captures spirit of the studio rendering with its stilly done moments and others brimming with metal guitar laced emotion to speak of the affecting. The Weapons… title track succeeds in all its thrash slugfest glory as Brown offers words of encouragement to the crowd - ‘I want to hear you people’ – and engages in a wonderful duel lead guitar tradeoff with Lael Conan.
Subsequent to “Thanks”, aptly entitled three and half minutes of banter between Brown and the audience, Deliverance moves on to closing self-titled debut powerhouse “Victory” in which it pulls out all the stops: even faster tempo live, catchier hooks and added unceasing lead guitar.
But wait, there’s more in the form of a Deliverance encore beginning with Stay… track “Words To The…”, embodying even further energy live, and Daniel Amos cover “Sanctuary” (off Learn). With a minute added to its span compared to the studio version, “Sanctuary” embodies some of my favorite moments of the three live albums with its progressive improvisational and freely flowing jam based feel.
Performance: A
Track Listing: A+
At time of Cornerstone Fest 2001, Sacred Warrior was not an active band in the same sense as Bride and Deliverance, noting how it had remained dormant since 1991 fourth album Obsessions. The Queensrÿche influenced power metal act (noting high end, classic tenor front man Rey Parra) otherwise pulls off a well-rounded set comprising mostly classics of the past with several previously unreleased new cuts.
After a short “Intro” to include a snippet from Obsessions track “Mad Man”, Sacred Warrior dives into speed metal tinged “Children Of The Light” off 1988 debut Rebellion. Song finds the group firing on all cylinders: Parra sings at his silky smooth bests, Tony Velasquez brandishes his intricate timekeeping and guitarist Bruce Swift shreds in prime form.
Ensuing is Obsessions cut “Remember Me”, a high melody mid-tempo piece elevated that much further live from Steve Watkins’ enterprising bass line and Joe Pett’s symphonic keyboards. Rebellions title track follows and proves one of albums highlights as Sacred Warrior extends it past five minutes with a technical instrumental run covering the final minute, which gives way to closing banter between Parra and the audience.
Lone 1989 sophomore effort Masters Command cut “Holy Holy Holy” succeeds in retaining its worship metal allure but differs with accenting piano as Parra leads the crowd in worship. The group transitions to a duo from 1990 third album Wicked Generation, “Little Secrets” and “Wicked Generation”, that are condensed from five to six minutes each to two minutes, while subsequent Rebellion number “The Heavens Are Calling” is also reduced to two minutes. I do not wish to be unfair in that I understand Sacred Warrior was working within time constrains, but due to the three being cut by several minutes leaves each somewhat wanting.
Sacred Warrior moves on to three previously unreleased songs, starting with “Come On”, two and half minutes of groove driven hard rock, but also including “Day By Day”, heavier with organ and elevated bass lending a 70’s vibe. Third “Prince Of Peace” takes a praise and worship route. While the three are good, they also sidestep Sacred Warrior’s traditional power metal sound. No, nothing wrong with that, but I would much rather heard the group instead perform at least one more off Master’s Command (“Evil Lurks”, “Beyond The Mountain”) or further explore its back catalog in the form of “Stay Away From Evil”, “He Died”, “Mad Man” and “Kamikaze”.
That said Sacred Warrior brought to Cornerstone Fest 2001 a CD-R demo of new material, but any new album it had in the works failed to materialize in that we did not hear from Sacred Warrior again until 2013 with Eli Prinsen fronted fifth album Waiting In Darkness.
Set closes to a lively rendering to “Temples On Fire” (Obsessions) staying true to the original in spirit (a traditional to power metal mauler) and form (no time cut from its span).
Performance: B+
Track Listing: B+
I wish to commend Millennium 8/Magdalene Records for the Live At Cornerstone Fest 2001 releases from successfully capturing in such high quality format live performances of Bride, Deliverance and Sacred Warrior. Far as live recordings go, production is top notch; however, due to not being a fan of live albums I never obtained the originals, so I am unable to offer a re-mastering comparison. That said, credit Retroactive Records for making the Bride, Deliverance and Sacred Warrior performances available again in such a high quality form. If a fan of live albums or the three bands in general, make each a priority purchase.
Review by Andrew Rockwell
Track Listing (Bride): “Intro” (:22), “Same Ol’ Sinner” (4:26), “Fool Me Once” (3:54), “Whiskey Seed” (3:23), “First Will Be Last” (4:42), “Thunder In The City” (4:56), “Until The End We Rock” (3:41), “Hell No” (4:33), “I Saw The Light / Power In The Blood” (4:57), “Under The Influence” (6:24)
Track Listing (Deliverance): “Intro” (2:19), “Stay Of Execution” (4:15), “Introductions” (2:57), “No Time” (4:37), “Learn” (4:55), “Belltown”, (4:10), “Psalm 23” (5:19), “Weapons Of Our Warfare” (4:30), “Thanks” (3:40), “Victory” (3:59), “Worlds To The Wise…” (4:07), “Sanctuary” (7:57)
Track Listing (Sacred Warrior): “Intro” (1:10), “Children Of The Light” (2:54), “Remember Me” (4:36), “Rebellion” (6:27), “Holy Holy Holy” (4:20), “Little Secrets” (2:33), “Wicked Generation” (2:08), “The Heavens Are Calling” (3:24), “Come One” (2:21), “Day By Day” (5:19), “Prince Of Peace” (3:43), “Temples On Fire” (4:32)
