Review Summary: One by one, to the swords to the guns!
This little gem is one of the best releases of 1983, marking the beginning of a brilliant career of a promising band, which unfortunately failed to meet the success it deserved and was unable to reach the same levels of popularity with other glam rock and metal acts in Los Angeles due to the band’s low budget and lack of promotion. Besides, success is sometimes a matter of sheer luck. But, the current EP helped like any other, the formation of a whole new musical genre, the U.S. power metal, alongside with Jag Panzer, Omen, Cirith Ungol and Crimson Glory.
Keeping all those things in mind let’s move on to the musical and lyrical style of Deliver Us. The first thing that everyone will notice, listening to the first track “Deliver Us From Evil”, is that the music is driven by the beautiful guitar playing of William J. Tsamis, and Mark Zonder's talents as a drummer –who whould latterly become Fates Warning drummer, are already evident. Bill Tsamis, conjures a great deal of impressive guitar pyrotechnics. He shows himself adept at melody, rhythm, lead, and soloing, all couched within a spectrum of appropriate guitar tones. His use of pinch harmonics adds just the right amount of extra flavor, and he knows exactly how and when to show of the flourishes of classical finger picking. Diane Kornarens displays a less prominent role in the band's sound, but her keyboard playing is always tasteful, and she adds a very welcome dimension to the band's sound. The secret weapon of Deliver Us is Jack Ruckers (aka Damien King 1) and of course he is the best singer Warlord ever had, consisting the band’s best line-up ever since.
A song that displays the great skills that this band has is the melodic masterpiece “Winter Tears”, which is a beautiful mid-paced-almost-ballad with great guitar and vocal melodies, while lyrics focus on the loss of the loved one. “Child Of The Damned” is the trademark of the album and it’s a fast-paced track with double-bass drums. Bear in mind that Child Of The Damned was covered by HammerFall in their debut album Glory To The Brave in 1997. The lyrics of “Child Of The Damned” reference the famous quote from John Milton's “Paradise Lost” whereby Satan claims it’s “Better to rule in Hell than it is to serve in Heaven”, as an open question. At this point, i would like to mention that the lyrics of “Deliver Us” are beautiful and well put together, for a great deal they were inspired by Bill Tsamis background and interest in theology, which you may or may not like, but you have to respect as any other subject or source of inspiration.
This EP was a major influence for many metal artists and later became a bible for many power metal bands. For example, Yngwie J. Malmsteen cited Warlord as his favourite band during an interview with Music Connection magazine in the early '80s. The band Hammerfall derived their name from the chorus/lyric of Warlord's “Lucifer's Hammer”. Also,
Bill Tsamis played the lead guitar solo on the Hammerfall tune “At the End of the Rainbow” and finally, I forgot to mention that Bill Tsamis auditioned for the vacant guitar spot in the Ozzy Osbourne band after the death of Randy Rhoads in the spring of 1982.
To sum up, this album is recommended for people who enjoy highly inspired and highly talented 80's "European" style of metal, with some progressive flavour, just in the right dose: creative compositions, good performing and accomplished lyrics.
