C.O.T. have been releasing albums at irregular intervals since the early 1990s and “Faith” offers more of the same material the band has become known for since then. For those unfamiliar with the band, C.O.T. has always been about quality Rock albeit one that is unmistakably commercial in nature. A bit like Takara, Thunder or even early Bon Jovi. The band’s creative engine was and is vocalist/guitarist Jean Beauvoir (ex-The Plasmatics, Little Steven, Voodoo X) who’s carved a parallel reputation for himself as a songwriter – Mr. Beauvoir has in fact written songs for artistes as diverse as Kiss, Lionel Ritchie and The Ramones.
As soon as “Faith” gets going, it’s amply clear that Jean Beauvoir’s warm but strong voice is still in good shape. The rest of the band all put in a contained but effective performance. To be honest I’m not too sure that “Faith” presents the band at its creative peak. While earlier albums such as “Breakthrough” or even the excellently packaged “21 Thorns” contained several great songs that implied a longer tenure of the CD in your home stereo, the appeal of “Faith” is more inconsistent than that. Following a rather bland first half, it falls upon songs like ‘Stay With Me’ and ‘All I Wanna Do’ to remind us of the songwriting prowess of C.O.T.. Then again, the album closes with a somewhat insipid ballad - ‘All Or Nothing’. “Faith” is not a bad album really – it just fails to rise above your average Hard Rock fare.
If it weren’t for the friggin’ voice-overs I might have been in a better position to give a more holistic opinion of this release. I might even have been able to rate it.
