Aside from the roaring engines of motorcycles rolling thru Sturgis in mid-August, there's very little that comes from the Black Hills. The gold mined from the hills out there is unique and in a spacious studio garage in Neosho, Wi, the sound mined amidst a light haze of cigarette smoke and the static pop hum of Marshall amplifiers is something unique as the bass and riffs seem to ring familiar in the ears of a passing listener."Is this Zombie?" I ask, but the music crescendos over the volume of my own voice and the band plays on dressing their rehearsal for their audience of three just as they would for an audience of 600 back in Rapid City.As I listen I wait to hear the haunting vocals of an Amy Lee or possibly the deep rasp of Chester Bennington, but the riff plays on and it's neither of those musicians bands music. It's something similar but definitely not the same.The guitar begins to wail and the hint of Metallica resonates in the air, but again I am wrong; when the drums flare and the bass digs, the sound is entirely Fading Faiths.This is a band that upon first listen anyone will try and search for the familiar comparisons of the metal that has rocked them before.This is an entirely different rocking; where some sounds make you tap your foot or pump your arms, bang your head or do an air solo on an imaginary drum set, Fading Faith pulses a sound that bleeds into you and begins to beat your heart for you.Yet, it wasn't just beating my blood thru my body it was rocking it.Every pulse and throb of the rhythm shuttled its cathartic sound thru me.As an objective bystander to all things musical and artistic I don't fancy myself a metal fan by any means, I came here to just humor the band after they asked me to stop by and "Just Listen", so I have and I am and it's good, it is very good.I found my humoring turned to humbled as I found myself really enjoying and feeling fortunate to have had the invite extended to me. As I sat there listening to the band play on I wondered as I was moved by the music if this was to me what any other journalist may have experienced in the past when they saw Hendrix play the small London gigs or Clapton and his Birds as they chanted out their harmonies. To the modern era it could be akin to having been privileged to see U2 when Bono still had two names or when Metallica was a little less outspoken or when Pearl Jam still felt like raw preserves.Yet after all the comparisons are made listening to the polished emotional sound I can no longer question the verge that this group from Rapid City rocks on; and as the music breaks with an emotional heart seizing stop, one doesn't question if Fading Faith is ready for something far bigger than this spacious garage.These guys are seducing destiny, and as the electric vibe of the amps hums behind them their frontman turns to me and asks how it was. "That was pretty good" but it wasn't, it was something great.
Brian Rose is a freelance writer, we thank him for covering our band and helping us gain a new audience here in Wisconsin





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