I love this album. There were few bands who focused on the dangers of Satanism as much as Betrayal did. I loved the darker subject matter and the somewhat eerie vibe that many of their songs had. I thought Renaissance By Death was good, but they really took it to a new level in every way on The Passing. The only semi-weak link was the vocals, which I felt were a little too one-dimensional and monotone sometimes. Still, they made it work. Oh, and "As I Turned Away", the song that featured Precious Death's Christopher Scott and Deliverance's Jimmy Brown on vocals is killer. The breakup of this band bummed me out more than most, and the solo stuff that Marcus Colon did under the Betrayal name was a huge disappointment to me. But The Passing will always rank among my favorite Christian albums.

Thoughts/opinions?

Yes this was a great album...I played it to death back when it came out.

I don't think Chris Ackerman's vocals were weak at all - they were just different for a thrash band.
This whole album was very good and i love the mix of furious thrash with creepy passages.
The first album was good too - just not as consistent as this cd.

I agree that "The Passing" is the better of the 2 Betrayal efforts, and underrated as Christian thrash goes. It also gets slagged quite a bit by secular thrash fans, but I think it's head & shoulders above a lot of the 3rd & 4th rate bay area bands that littered the late 80's and early 90's. I also agree that "As I Turned Away" is AWESOME. Great track, very emotional.

As far as the vocals, they're traditional aggro-thrash vocals, mostly atonal. They certainly have more energy, personality, and variety than some we could mention (I know I'll catch flack for this) like Mike Torone.

I had it on cassette, many, many years ago, but it died! It was a pretty good album from what I remember!

Love both of the Betrayal discs, as well as the demo. Their later stuff, when the resurrected the name, pales in comparison.



Arttie

This album, along with Living Sacrifice's Inhabit were pretty much the pinnacle of the era for me. I still pull the Passingp VERY frequently. My only criticism of it is Chris Ackerman's vocals....which are not BAD vocally, they just have a ....unique....flavor to them.

I could not get into this album at all. Renaissance by death was better, assassin in the midst was a killer song.

I like both Betrayal albums, but I don't love them. Quite solid. Keepers for sure.

BAH!
...my first Betrayal album, and one of the finest I've heard from that era...the opening song "Renouncement" had me from the beginning (liked the small dabs of industrial there), and I loved the concept of the entire album...now I want to pull it out and listen to it while I deliver sammiches tomorrow...

I have it on cassete, and I have to say that all of this band's material should get re-released, Detritus should also get their stuff re-reisue, at least on a box set or 2cd set

^^ M8 re-issued the Betrayal albums? How did I miss that?

I'm thinking perhaps he's referring to Detritus....the Betrayal albums are still fairly easy to find for a decent price.

I too liked Renaissance by Death more than The Passing...even though it was flawed, it just had more interesting ideas and songs to me. The Passing had better production and seemed heavier, but was more straightforward and predictable. From what I can remember, at least! It's been 5 years or so since I listened to either album. I don't think I own either anymore...I should grab them and give them another round.

I love this album! The music is fantastic and the vocals don't bother me at all. Had a chance to see Betrayal live at Superfest in Southern California back in '93. There were a bunch of bands I wanted to see, but Betrayal was at the top of my list. Drove all the way from Washington State to be there and they didn't dissapoint - great show.

Anyone else ever see them live?

Forest Of Horrors is a killer track ! But honestly I don't really like the vocals on all the other tracks.
Very cool punk rock vocals but a bit out of place for thrash metal...

Somehow i decided to sell this one...after missing it for 2 years i noticed this was a BIG mistake. Purchased it again. No Regrets. Great Album.

I really dig both the first two albums. Theres some great atmosphere on RBD and wicked riffage on TP. Wish they would reform and carry on in that style.