Quite a clever album cover – depicting a play on words for this sophomore album from New Jersey five-piece Prophet.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Prophet
ALBUM: Cycle Of The Moon
LABEL: Megaforce
SERIAL: 7 81822-1
YEAR: 1988
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Russell Arcara – vocals, backing vocals * Ken Dubman – guitars * Scott Metaxas – vocals, bass, acoustic guitar * Joe Zujkowski – keyboards * Michael Sterlacci – drums, backing vocals
TRACK LISTING: 01 Cycle Of The Moon * 02 Can’t Hide Love * 03 As One * 04 Sound Of A Breakin’ Heart * 05 Asylum * 06 Tomorrow Never Comes * 07 Frontline * 08 Hands Of Time * 09 Hyperspace * 10 Red Line Rider
WEBLINKS: Wikipedia Page
Background
Quite a clever album cover – depicting a play on words for this sophomore album from New Jersey five-piece Prophet.
Missing in action since 1985’s beautiful self titled debut, the band underwent numerous changes during those three years. Vocalist Dean Fasano left, he was replaced by former Surgin singer Russell Arcara.
Drummer Ted Poley also departed – he vacated the drummers stool for a frontman’s position with future AOR heroes Danger Danger. His spot was taken by Mike Sterlacci.
Prophet had also signed on with Atlantic Records offshoot Megaforce, joining a roster which included Kings X, Frehleys Comet, Icon and numerous others.
And what of Prophet’s sound? Was it still as pompous as before? The answer, strictly speaking is no. They moved into a harder AOR sound, but still encased with a ton of keyboards and glorious melodies. ‘Cycle Of The Moon’ is still a fantastic listen many years later.
Helping them achieve this sound is Pasha Studio head honcho Spencer Proffer, who is better known working with the likes of Quiet Riot, LRB and Randy Bishop, the latter also shares in the production duties.
Prophet circa 1988 L-R: Mike Sterlacci – drums, Scott Metaxas – bass, Russell Arcara – vocals, Ken Dubman – guitars, Joe Zujkowski – keyboards
The Songs
Many past reviews of this band have thrown up the name Kansas as a chief influence, and even on ‘Cycle Of The Moon’ I feel this is still warranted. Though in context, we are talking the 80’s era of Kansas, not their violin induced era from a decade prior.
Listening to tracks such as the awesome ‘Can’t Hide Love’ and the lovely ballad ‘Sound Of A Breaking Heart’ that comparison hits home. The standout acoustic ‘Tomorrow Never Comes’ could be the 80’s equivalent of ‘Dust In The Wind’, a simply beautiful track sung by Scott Metaxas.
When the band come on strong they sound incredible. Check out ‘Frontline’ (great name huh?), or the OTT instrumental ‘Hyperspace’ where Ken Dubman and Joe Zujkowski show off their guitar and keyboard wizardry.
Let’s not forget the brooding power of the title track ‘Cycle Of The Moon’ fever burning and my souls on fire.. running through the night feeding my desire..’, or the crossover AOR/prog strains of ‘On The Run’ where Joe Zujkowski rules the roost.
In Summary
Simply put, one of the better albums of 1988 and one which is given a regular workout from time to time.
The band did release a video for ‘Sound Of A Broken Heart’ and apart from some good press and a decent profile courtesy of their new label, the buying public remained largely apathetic.
It was of course the era of hair metal (thanks Whitesnake) and Guns N Roses and bands like this had to compete for attention on a national level, let alone a very competitive local New Jersey scene as well.
Prophet returned on a smaller label for 1991’s ‘Recycled’, a far cry from their first two albums.
‘Cycle Of The Moon’ has also seen a reissue on CD courtesy of Z Records, so it should not be too difficult to find. This one, along with their debut album should be compulsory members of your CD collection. I would be rather aggrieved if they weren’t lol!
Prophet on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
