Hailing from Quebec, Canada in 1985, they were one of the very few power/speed metal bands ever with a female lead singer. Messiah Force' discography only includes a demo, 1 album and a single. Today this short-lived band enjoy cult status.

"MESSIAH MEANS MESSENGER, THIS IS MESSIAH FORCE, GET THE MESSAGE!"

THE LAST DAY (1987) BOOTLEG

I actually thought I'd found a rare Christian metal gem when I saw this listed for sale in an online distro. That turned out to be wrong. But what I got was a gem nevertheless! Messiah Force is a long forgotten metal band from the 80's. They came from Canada, and this was their only full-length release, entitled 'The Last Day'. The music is pretty standard speed metal, or power metal, if you will. It's not heavy enough to be called thrash, yet too heavy to be classic heavy metal. The music is very guitar-based, with lightning fast riffing that is still always written with a lot of melody, creating enough dynamics to always keep t interesting. The double bass drums are also here, creating a steady rhythm. But what sets this band apart from other contemporary acts is the vocals. Unlike any other speed metal band I know of, Messiah Force had a female singer! Lynn Renaud marks a striking resemblance to one Doro Pesch, during her Warlock years. But the music behind Lynn is much heavier than that of her German brothers and sister. Production wise the album is typical of it's time. And at the end of the day it is the music that does the real talking. And on 'The Last Day' there are plenty of choice cuts. From "White Knight", with it's memorable riffs, to the almost epic tune "Hero's Saga", and the killer title track. All I can say is that Messiah Force had deserved a much wider audience back in their they, as this album is a prime example that talent doesn't always grant you success. Unfortunately the CD I bought turned out to be a bootleg, albeit a fairly good one. The album cover is not the correct one, but it is rather taken from the bands last single. The only Photoshopped the words "The Sequel" out, and added "The Album" instead! They also copied the release year, and label, from the single. So while it says 1988 on the back of the trey card, 'The Last Day' was originally released the year before. I've included both the cover for the single (left, resembles the bootleg cover the most), and the original art (right) for the album. If they ever re-release this properly, I'll snag a legit version of this gem then. But this bootleg will suffice for now, as I am really enjoying this bands music.

Killer tracks: White Night, Silent Tyrant, The Last Day, The Third One