History & Biography Faithful Breath were not kidding with their monicker. Formed in 1967 by Stabenow and Mikus after being called The Magic Power for a year, the band sounded progressive and influenced by Deep Purple, Iron Butterfly and Genesis by the time of the release of Fading Beauty with its very appropriate cover. Fading Beauty was released again years later by Laser's Edge. The band also sported a Viking image and its themes, covers and looks were Nordic.
Back On My Hill was recorded in 1978 and appeared in 1980. The band split up here but reformed with drummer Otto who left again in 1982. Honig and Dell join and the band turned heavier on Gold'N'Glory. This album features the line “we live our lives restless and wild.” Now on Mausoleum, the band seemed to have gained a new lease on life. King Of The Rock was an under-rated metal anthem from that album. The band appeared at the 1984 edition of Heavy Sound Festival in Belgium in 1984. Also appearing were Lita Ford, Twisted Sister, H-Bomb and Metallica. Honig left after what is the band's most successful album and Hermann walked in. Skol was recorded at Dieter Dirks' studio and the band even hit the USA, but things changed when the act called itself Risk in 1987 and chose a heavier thrash metal direction! Düsterloh died in 2014.
Reviews FAITHFUL BREATH - GOLD 'N' GLORY - MAUSOLEUM 
How did Udo Dirkschenider of Accept, who co-produced this alongside Accept producer Michael Wagner, find time in 1984 to work on this? Udo was at his peak with Accept and in between the Balls To The Wall and Metal Heart albums. Either way, Gold 'N' Glory is not that different from Accept.
The album begins with the anthemic song Don't Feel Hate. If only the early viking metal band from Germany knew how its words would fall on deaf ears. Decades later, as we listen to its headbanger, the world is full of conservative, right-wing, MAGA, alt-right wack jobs and part-time conspiracy theorists, fuelled by social media misinformation and Trumpian disinformation, to normalize their hate. Well, that was then and this is now. Hate has always existed which is why the quartet sang about it. At least, Gold 'N' Glory frees us for 30 minutes from the dreaded emotion and gives us a hard and heavy listening distraction. In tune with the Mausoleum sound of the day, think Crossfire, Killer et al, this is a no-frills LP, with few solos and a rough and ready bash metal from beginning to end. You can stop reading here if you like. It is excellent stuff.
The title track's lyrics are written from the Vikings' perspective and modestly talks about desiring gold and glory; wine and women. Is that all you need? How content! A riff in the song is oddly reminiscent of Japanese Presence's early demo song, You Want My Love Baby, from their demo days of all things. The guitars are scratchy and the songs generally hint at Accept. Don't Drive Me Mad has a driving rock beat. Princess In Disguise is the one exception in that it comes across as a filler and weaker track. The bass sound is okay though. Incidentally, while this title may have been inspired by the Accept (there is that name again) song Princess Of The Dawn, it is not the only one. The title track's line, "We live our life restless and wild…" must have brought a smile to Dirkschneider's lips. While on the topic, A Million Hearts is a ballad that itself could have come from Accept. It reminds one of slow songs like The King or Cold Winter Dreams.
It is not difficult imagining a fan of the band from the 1970s disliking this. The act had shifted its sound from progressive rock to metal. For me, however, this is classic stuff from an age when metal was hard, metal was heavy, metal stuck in the mind and did not come with a flute, horn, ukulele or mandolin and embellished synthesizers. The sound is still good and the viking ship on the cover even flies. What else could anyone need? - Ali "The Metallian"
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