Defector - Fire By Night

Roxx has posted a new video to their page, this one by a band called Defector.
I know absolutely nothing about this band, but the song (at least) lyrically sounds like something written in the 80's or 90's.

Check it out.

Musically I like it.  Vocally it reminds me of Dokken or Guardian's First Watch.  While the vocalist has a good voice and can carry a tune, the delivery is flat lacking the ability to evoke any emotion to the listener.

All I know about this band is that the singer was the original vocalist for Millennial Reign.

I hear the Don Dokken comparison here.  I don't think that Don was without feeling with his singing on the first five albums and his solo disc.  Albums after that, his performance was kind of phoned in.  This does sound a little like that, too.  However, this might not be the best song on the album.  I like what they have done overall, so I went ahead and ordered this.

This reminds me a lot of Novella’s first album. I like it!

Xid wrote:

Musically I like it.  Vocally it reminds me of Dokken or Guardian's First Watch.  While the vocalist has a good voice and can carry a tune, the delivery is flat lacking the ability to evoke any emotion to the listener.

I didn't catch that upon first listen... maybe think I was just shocked (and excited) that it wasn't a Dale Thompson fronted project.
I'll have to give it repeated listens to see if I get the "flat delivery feeling"  I was a big fan of Dokken back in the day (especially those first four albums).  I don't think Don ever had a ton of power behind his vocals, but I still dug what they were doing (far from my least favorite singer of the genre).

It's just one of those things that really stand out for me and makes me a Mr. Picky Pants.  Dokken's voice is great, his delivery left me in want.

"Mr Picky Pants" 

I did find out that this is the original singer from Millennial Reign and that he already recorded this same song with them as well (odd).  Sounds like it could be the same recording (like the exact same recording)!

cued 'em up together, sure sounds like the exact same track to me...

Bit odd to do that.  I know Rob Rock has released I'm A Warrior a number of times, but at least he does re-record it each time that he puts it on an album.

Driver - EP
Impellitteri - Answer To The Master
Rob Rock - Holy Hell

crucifyd wrote:

cued 'em up together, sure sounds like the exact same track to me...

I listened to both in 15 second bits (alternating back and forth) and couldn't find any difference at all (at least for first minute or so).
If the rest of the album is just a repeat of that first Millennial Reign album then I will certainly be skipping this cd.

Fundy wrote:

Bit odd to do that.  I know Rob Rock has released I'm A Warrior a number of times, but at least he does re-record it each time that he puts it on an album.

Driver - EP
Impellitteri - Answer To The Master
Rob Rock - Holy Hell

Yeah, I certainly don't find anything wrong with that at all.  Especially since I'm sure a ton of people didn't catch the Driver version when it was released and the Impellitteri vs. Rob Rock Solo versions are at least a decade apart.  So they all come across as sounding rather different.

So Roxx has officially released the album for Pre-sale ($11.99 pre-sale price).  These recordings are the same ones that were originally released as the first Millennial Reign album back in 2012, and they are being transparent about that in the description.

Quote :

Kicking off 2023 strong Roxx Records is proud to bring you a brand new straight up Christian Heavy Metal album you have probably never heard before, but you are very familiar with the frontman of this amazing unreleased album! We are happy to be bringing you the new, but old, album from Millennial Reign frontman Dave Harvey’s early heavy metal band, which has now been officially dubbed… DEFECTOR” 
Here is what Dave had to say about this release “The first Millennial Reign album (2012) was simply a recording project of 80s style songs I used to play in a previous band called ‘3:16’ back around 2000 to 2005 or so. Those songs were never really released back then, so I would completely rerecord them all and make a lot of changes to those songs and release as the debut Millennial Reign album. Shortly after releasing ‘Carry The Fire’ on Ulterium, I felt it best to take the project album completely off the market because it really wasn’t Millennial Reign material. I had been considering releasing those original recordings under a different side project name for people to hear, so after contacting and discussing with ROXX, the project took on a whole new life. I hope you enjoy these songs as we bring them to you completely remastered but in their original format as Defector ‘Fire By Night’, enjoy.”
That was what started it all and when Roxx heard those original songs, without hesitation we were stoked to bring you this brand new album for 2023. Ten blistering metal songs that are going to be ringing through your speakers throughout 2023 and beyond!

https://roxxrecords.com/collections/2019-releases/products/defector-fire-by-night-cd-2023-ffo-stryper-millennial-reign