APOSTLE was founded in 1983 by Matt Harding. For all intents and purposes, Matt Harding is Apostle. Apostle was a Christian Powermetal band from Jacksonville, Florida. Throughout the mid to late 1980's and early 1990's, no other Christian Metal group could even come close to Apostle. Their musicianship was top notch; incredible guitar and bass players, soaring lead vocals, and featured one of the most powerful double-bass drummers ever to sit behind a drumkit.

Their neo-classical brand of metal was head and shoulders above the rest who played this style, and they were virtually one of a handfull of Christian bands that actually had their own sound. One thing that set this band apart from the pack, was that even though they were Christians and their lyrics were literally taken straight from The Holy Bible, they had a large following among the secular crowds. In their hometown of Jacksonville, Florida they were considered the best Metal band in the entire North Florida area, and each of the three were considered the best on their instruments by the other local musicians!

In concert they were a force to be reckoned with, delivering The Gospel with a force like no other band. In 1988 they appeared at The Cornerstone Festival, and they also toured as a support act with Whitecross. The Whitecross tour was a joke, because Apostle blew them away every night. Whitecross seemed like a bar band, while Apostle, with their mountain of gear, stageclothes, stellar performances, and rockstar looks, seemed like a band on the level of Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, or KISS!

Apostle released several Cassette-only releases including, Metal For The Master, Chariots Of Iron, Hymns, and Apostle(which was produced by Glenn Kaiser of the Rez Band.) In 1988, The Sword (from Hymns) appeared on a Regency Records release called East Coast Metal, which also contained songs by Arsenal, Believer, Rage Of Angels, and The Lead.

Matt Harding released two solo Cassette-only releases, which were called Matt Harding's Dreams/Out Of The Fire, and Matt Harding's Steel Armada. In 1994, Apostle released Prepare To Meet God with the addition of David Brown on Vocals. Many fans did not like this new direction, and preferred Matt's vocals which were definitely a major factor in Apostle's sound. Matt's vocal style reminds you somewhat of Rob Halford of Judas Priest, while David Brown sounded more like Vince Neil from Motley Crue.Prepare was recorded in Matt's personal home recording studio.

I believe that three of the tapes are still available (Chariots of Iron, Hymns, and Apostle, as well as Harding's two solo releases.) Check your local Christian bookstore, they may have to order them for you. If given the option of the two solo releases, get Matt Harding's Steel Armada, because it contains songs with Harding's best vocals to date, while Dreams / Out Of The Fire contains only Instrumentals. Rumor had it that when guitarist Joe Floyd from the L.A based metal band Warrior heard Steel Armada, he wanted Harding to help him reform Warrior! I do not know if the 1994 release is still available, and I know for sure that Metal For The Master is out of print.

The song files were removed, because of excessive traffic. They will be back as soon as I can find a free server for them. Thanks

The following are from Matt Harding's Steel Armada. This material is by far some of the best audio quality that Matt Harding had ever released at this point, having become very familiar with the recording studio...he also became fairly well known as a producer.
This was the material that supposedly had Joe Floyd of Warrior interested in Harding as a vocalist.

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