Jarra CD's and DVD's

Reviews:

JARRA
Test Of Faith
Lion Music
This band was completely unknown to me before I received their album. Jarra hails from
Arizona. The band was formed by Kathie Jarra (guitar/vocals) and Johnny Russian on lead
guitar) more than seven years ago in the New Jersey / New York area. Drummer Shane
Diaz and bassist David Chaney complete the line up. Jarra is a band that serve their music
heavy and solid. Russian’s riffs are bulky and crunching. Kathie’s vocal deliverance is
powerful and don’t expect some sweet soprano voice from Kathie. Her tone is aggressive,
soaring and rough. I would even go so far to call her the female Dio. The eight songs on this
album are pure headbanging material. No technical shit or fiddling around on this CD but
simply a straight delivery of heavy metal. They have an eighties sound and but the heavy
production makes sure that the album does not sounds old fashioned. It’s great to hear that
there are still bands out there that bring honest heavy metal. (8)

Bruno Van de Velde - Undertow

Jarra - Test of Faith


Another metal band from Arizona. That’s 2 this month. Things must be looking up for American
metal. Its interesting to note that even though they are based in Arizona, Jarra are signed to Lion
Records which is based in Finland. Jarra was formed by Kathie Jarra and Johnny Russian as a cover
band which preformed on the South Jersey club circuit. The band was a staple of the club circuit for a
number of years playing both covers and their own original material. They also supported many
national acts on a regular basis including Cinderella, Kix and Faster Pussycat. (Don’t let this fool
you.). The bands first release was a four song E.P. entitled Two Evils that received lots of recognition
and opened up the German market for Jarra. This European recognition gave the band the confidence
to record a full length disc that turned into Test of Faith. Jarra recently relocated to Arizona and
picked up a new bass player in the process so the lineup now consists of Kathie Jarra on vocals and
guitar, Johnny Russian: lead guitar, Shane Diaz: drums and Arizona native David Chaney on bass
guitar.

Kathie Jarra handles the lead vocals for Jarra and she does a great job. Metal, even with bands such
as Nightwish and Power Symphony, has very few females , especially when they are the band leader.
Test of Faith is 8 songs of straight ahead metal that is breath of fresh air coming from a country that
is being overrun with mallcore. The opening track is a scorcher called "Eternal Love". Kathie Jarra
has a powerful voice that fits the band well. Up next is the slow and plodding track "Black Snow (The
Final Sign)" . Great track that builds up to a great ending and features a great solo from Johnny
Russian. This guy puts some feeling into his solos. A great touch. "Indian War Love Song (Deliver
Me)" is one of the songs that gained Jarra some attention in Germany. This song is as close to an
epic tune as you will find on this CD and features some of Kathie Jarra’s best vocal work on the
release. The CD closes out with a couple of more avoustic songs. First is the ballad "Always, All
Ways" which is dedicated to Stevie Ray Vaughn. At times this track reminds me of "Patience" by
Guns n’ Roses but with a harder edge. One of the best songs on the disc in my estimation. The closer
is the song "Arizona" which is an all acoustic instrument obviously named after the bands adopted
state.

Not only is Kathie Jarra the lead vocalist and guitar player in a metal band, she is also involved with
making movies. She has done voice over work and singing for many films in Germany and is now
working as the music supervisor on the film "The Villikon Chronicles". Test of Faith is a good metal
CD. The band stays with a straight ahead metal style which serves them well. Johnny Russian plays
with emotion and not just with a million notes a minute which makes him an enjoyable lead player to
listen to for a full CD. With Jarra having a foothold in German metal market I look forward to seeing if
they can translate this to a greater presence in North America.

review from Metal Rules by Rick

JARRA - Test Of Faith / Lion Music(review by Loud Planet)

Line-Up: Kathie Jarra (vocals), Johnny Russian (guitar), David Chaney (bass),
Shane Diaz (drums).

Track Listing: 1) Eternal Love, 2) Black Snow (The Final Sign), 3) Pain,
4) Indian War Love Song (Deliver Me), 5) Too Many Lies, 6) Two Evils,
7) Always, All Ways 8) Arizona.

Jarra, the Arizona four-piece, have a sound culled from many different influences. Whilst guitarist Jonny Russian churns out riffs straight from the heart of American guitar based hard rock, singer Kathie Jarra produces vocals more associated with the European metal scene, such as Dio, Scorpions etc.

From the opening track 'Eternal Love', the riffs are layed down heavy and thick, the guitar solos are blazing and the vocals are melodic.

One of the standout tracks is 'Indian War Love Song (Deliver Me)'. Based around a big stomping guitar riff, just as heavy as anything Metallica have produced, laden with the majestic and atmospheric vocals of Kathie Jarra.

Equally as good is the balled 'Always, All Ways'. The lonesome, slightly country sounding, melodic gem is hauntingly brilliant.

The sound of the album overall is very slick and commercially polished, and pays no homage whatsoever to the currently thriving nu-metal scene, as a result the sound will always draw comparisons to eighties' metal amongst the listeners. But the album lacks nothing from the absence of these influences. In fact the exuberance of their sound and songwritting shows their faith in the style of music they play.

A stunning debut from a band that leaves me eager to hear more.

Tombstone Fanzine www.Tombstone.gr

JARRA - Test Of Faith / Lion Music


Quite a surprise for all of us here. A classic metal band (coming from Arizona) with female vocals, but thank
god not the average operatic voice. Instead her voice is rough and her biggest influence is Dio. Their music
is straight forward metal and it is influenced by bands such as Accept, Dio and Judas Priest. Their sound is
very heavy, the riffs are made for headbanging and the rhythm section is a wall of sound. They are good,
they are very good in fact. This is their debut album but they've got so much talent that I am absoluetly
certain that we'll hear more from them in the future. Their music is not very technical or complex. It's
rather simple, but it is straight forward heavy. There are not any "little" details to enrich the sound and
they don't need such things. It's three guys and a lady jamming and delivering their metal in the vein of old
metal bands. Their music has this 80s feeling, when everything in metal was so more pure and simple. You
didn't need any fancy productions or cover arts to make it and gain respect and that's exactly the case
with this band. If you have the chance to listen to them do it. They deserve your attention and much more
than that. A good start might be at www.lionmusic.com

8/10

Review by metal-rules.com

Jarra - Test of Faith
February 2001 | Released: 2000, Lion Music | Rating: 3.25/5 | Reviewer: Rick

Another metal band from Arizona. That’s 2 this month. Things must be looking up for American metal. Its interesting to note that even though they are based in Arizona, Jarra are signed to Lion Records which is based in Finland. Jarra was formed by Kathie Jarra and Johnny Russian as a cover band which preformed on the South Jersey club circuit. The band was a staple of the club circuit for a number of years playing both covers and their own original material. They also supported many national acts on a regular basis including Cinderella, Kix and Faster Pussycat. (Don’t let this fool you.). The bands first release was a four song E.P. entitled Two Evils that received lots of recognition and opened up the German market for Jarra. This European recognition gave the band the confidence to record a full length disc that turned into Test of Faith. Jarra recently relocated to Arizona and picked up a new bass player in the process so the lineup now consists of Kathie Jarra on vocals and guitar, Johnny Russian: lead guitar, Shane Diaz: drums and Arizona native David Chaney on bass guitar.

Kathie Jarra handles the lead vocals for Jarra and she does a great job. Metal, even with bands such as Nightwish and Power Symphony, has very few females , especially when they are the band leader. Test of Faith is 8 songs of straight ahead metal that is breath of fresh air coming from a country that is being overrun with mallcore. The opening track is a scorcher called "Eternal Love". Kathie Jarra has a powerful voice that fits the band well. Up next is the slow and plodding track "Black Snow (The Final Sign)" . Great track that builds up to a great ending and features a great solo from Johnny Russian. This guy puts some feeling into his solos. A great touch. "Indian War Love Song (Deliver Me)" is one of the songs that gained Jarra some attention in Germany. This song is as close to an epic tune as you will find on this CD and features some of Kathie Jarra’s best vocal work on the release. The CD closes out with a couple of more avoustic songs. First is the ballad "Always, All Ways" which is dedicated to Stevie Ray Vaughn. At times this track reminds me of "Patience" by Guns n’ Roses but with a harder edge. One of the best songs on the disc in my estimation. The closer is the song "Arizona" which is an all acoustic instrument obviously named after the bands adopted state.

Not only is Kathie Jarra the lead vocalist and guitar player in a metal band, she is also involved with making movies. She has done voice over work and singing for many films in Germany and is now working as the music supervisor on the film "The Villikon Chronicles". Test of Faith is a good metal CD. The band stays with a straight ahead metal style which serves them well. Johnny Russian plays with emotion and not just with a million notes a minute which makes him an enjoyable lead player to listen to for a full CD. With Jarra having a foothold in German metal market I look forward to seeing if they can translate this to a greater presence in North America.

 

Jarra – Test of Faith (Lion Music -2000)

Jarra are old-school metal at its best. Fronted by the alarmingly impressive Kathie Jarra alongside Johnny Russian – Lead Guitar, Shane Diaz – Drums and Dave Chaney on Bass. They could well be the ‘DIO’ equivalent for the new millennium – and I came to this conclusion after checking out the opening three songs, ‘Eternal Love’, ‘Black Snow (The Final Sign)’ and ‘Pain’. Included are all those classic 80’s Metal Trademarks like wailing guitar solos, tight high-in-the-mix snare bashing plus powerful Sabbath styled vocals to place the icing firmly onto the cake. The track, ‘Indian War Love Song (Deliver Me) is a another perfect example and concerns the spirit of the American Indian and even features some authentic ritual chanting and dialogue on the intro and outtro. Following on is ‘Too Many Lies’, a slow and moody Sabbath/Dio-esque ditty about not being able to focus properly because you’ve been told so much lies. It’s honest felt, haunting stuff.

So, is it all Dio-wy styled music – well actually no – the exceptions are the last two tracks – ‘Always, All Ways’, dedicated to and inspired by Stevie Ray Vaughn which sees Jarra change gear and style completely to a more contemporary rock acoustic vibe that Poison are famous for (remember ‘Every rose has its thorn’ or ‘Something to believe in’ and you get the picture). ‘Arizona’ is the lead-off on this album - a short piece of blues slide-guitar work from Mr. Russian that finishes off this 5" spinner quite beautifully.

With artists like this doing the rounds there is hope that we won’t lose the sound of what metal should be. Jarra are most sincerely a solid fuelled force of Heavy Laden 80’s Metal Splendour.

 

8/10 Glenn Milligan, BA Hons CS

 

JARRA - Test of Faith (CD - Lion Music - USA).

Yeah! This is real 80's  heavy metal, pure, energetic, climatic and simple, if you love icons like AC/DC, TWISTED SISTER, MOTLEY CRUE, FASTER PUSSYCAT, KISS, Jarra will be the next great thing in your life!!! The female vocalist Kathie Jarra is the band leader and the responsible of the compositions beside Johnny Russian (Lead Guitar), the musics are powerful and inspirated, the sound of the band is a impressive mix of MOTLEY CRUE glam sound of good times with  JUDAS PRIEST, Kathie has a personal vocal with a good balance of power & melody, creating interesting songs like "Pain", "Indian War Love Song"(The best of the album with heavy guitars and intense vocals!) & "Two Evils". The sound production isn't good but  that doesn't turn off the shine of this talented band. Contacts: www.lionmusic.com / lion.sales@lionmusic.com  (