Guardian "Miracle Mile" Word/ Pakaderm 1993

Christian rock is not very good. Christians keen to convert you will tell you that it is, but 
really most of it is derivative and not very well executed. Enter Guardian.
By 1993, hair metal was finished, but if the hair metal brigade had managed to put out albums
like this, it probably would have held off the onslaught of grunge. "Miracle Mile" is influenced
by Tesla, Skid Row, and Extreme, but it comes out with a credible level of originality. The 
drums, guitars, and bass are all bombastically huge, but the overall production effect is pretty
organic and earthy, not sounding awkward in the anti-slick '90s. Musically, too, true hard rock
greats like Led Zeppelin provide inspiration for this, an authentic rock album rather than a
commercially masterminded pop record. 
Power ballads are eschewed in favour of four tasteful acoustic numbers. "You & I" is a '60s
influenced feel good classic rock number. The remaining seven tracks are pure blistering hard
rock. Guitarist Tony Palacios is a tasteful virtuoso, and by not going for many overdubs, he
retains something of a live feel. It's all a little bit dirty, bluesy, gritty, and totally
convincing. Clearly the label expected big things of it, because the budget for this album was
obviously pretty high. It was money well spent, too... the album crunches hard-edged melodic rock
from start to finish. 

A shot in the arm for the credibility of Christian rock and rock in general, this, along with
Tesla's 90s output, is how rock should have sounded in the '90s. Guardian even exude the humour
sorely lacking from the more tedious hair metal bands, with a cackling hidden track that rounds
off the album.

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