There's simply too much music coming out. Of course, that's a really good problem to have when you're talking about Christian music--especially at a time in its history when the music has never been better and more relevant, and the lyrics are continuing to stay true to the Gospel of Jesus.

When several hundred albums release each year in Christian music, it's impossible for every artist and project to rise to the surface and get the attention it deserves. There's simply more music out there than we can possibly ever meaningfully approach. That's true for us at NRT, where our job is to listen to everything, so it's that much more true of Christian music fans, who have to ration their music dollars, time and attention. 

Whether it's the backing of a major label, a rabid fanbase, an aggressive marketing plan, or (is it is in most cases) the attention of nationwide radio producers, certain artists get the most attention, while others fight and scrap to get noticed. 

While the Christian radio and sales charts often have many of the same players at any given time, we feel that the following artists deserve more of a shake than they've been given so far. This list of Top 10 most underrated bands and artists in 2014 contains people and groups who have been making some of the best Christian music, and have yet to break through to the mass appeal their art deserves. 

Here's the list, in no particular order:
 
1. EVERFOUND
OK, I just said "in no particular order," but this is the only case where that's not true. Everfound is, in the opinion of the entire NRT staff, the most underrated band in Christian music. After developing a good following as an indie band, the quartet of Russian brothers released its first major-label debut last summer, simply titled Everfound.

Many fans of Christian music will know the band's first single, "Never Beyond Repair." While that's a good, solid song about God's restoring love, it's not representative of the big, cinematic pop/rock sound Everfound perfects on their album. "Repair" is perfect for the Adult Contemporary format--as is their second single, "God of the Impossible"--and it seems many listeners stop there, missing out on incredible, aggressive anthems like "Unless", "Go", "Count the Stars" and "What Love Means," among others. 

This band has some of the best energy on stage of any act in Christian music, and they have a pretty incredible family story to boot. While I want Everfound to make more music, I feel that a major disservice would be done to Christian music if more of their songs didn't see the light of day on radio (or in people's personal playlists).

2. CHARMAINE
This powerhouse vocalist from Australia was introduced to the world as the vocalist accompanying pop artist Jonathan Thulin in his first big hit song, "Dead Come to Life," but Charmaine has plenty of amazing music to stand on her own. 

It's been four years since her last project, Love Reality--an album that had plenty of amazing pop/contemporary hits that didn't really catch traction. Perhaps the album was ahead of its time, or perhaps going the indie route had its drawbacks. Whatever the case, Charmaine's incredible songwriting, instrumentation and passionate vocals need to be heard. 

Charmaine is a versatile pop artist, ranging from the emotional to the bubbly. From the Mary Magdelene-inspired dramatic number, "Not Fair," to the bouncy and fun "Tokyo," Love Reality is one of Christian pop's best-kept secrets. Charmaine is readying her Love Somebody EP for a June release, and as I've already heard it, expect her craft to hit another level. In an industry desperately needing some more female vocalists, Charmaine obviously has been overlooked--hopefully not for long.
 
3. V.ROSE
Speaking of female vocalists, Clear Sight Records' V.Rose also makes the list. With an urban (and even sometimes gospel) edge to her, "V" is mostly known for providing the hooks on label boss Flame's rap tracks. 

Women are far underrepresented in Christian music's urban/hip-hop subgenre, and V.Rose is the leader of a new class emerging. Sadly, most Christian music watchers haven't heard of her, even despite two strong releases with the self-titled V.Rose and The Electro-Pop Deluxe. Songs like "Turn Up Your Light" (feat. KJ-52) showcase V's dance-friendly tendencies, and tracks like "Oh My Ahh" (feat. FLAME) and "Girl What U Lookin' At?" present an aggressive, swag-heavy flavor. At the end of the day, though, V.Rose's material is always Jesus-focused and redemption-angled.

If "Turn Up Your Light" and her "All Burns Down" from Clear Sight's Jesus or Nothing are any indication, V's upcoming Forever After album--which is said to present that urban-dance-pop awesomeness on steroids--should be one of the under-the-radar, don't-miss tracks of the year.

4. YOUNG CHOZEN
It's a pretty awesome thing to see the Christian hip-hop community filled with some pretty top-level talent these days, with several record labels emerging as factories of powerhouse Jesus-focused rhymes. From the reigning name in Christian hip-hop--Lecrae's Reach Records--to robust rosters from Lamp Mode Recordings, Clear Sight Music, Humble Beast and others, there's no shortage of incredible rappers making waves in Christian music.

In an admittedly crowded field, however, we believe that independent rapper Young Chozen deserves to be on this list of underrated artists. The American-born, Australia-based artist's 2013 release, G.L.O.W. (Give Love Out Willingly) turned a lot of heads at NRT by opting for a more dance-pop edge to his raps--and even earned a pair of WE LOVE CHRISTIAN MUSIC AWARDS nominations. Called "electro-pop-infused ear candy" in our official staff review, G.L.O.W. stands in stark contrast to a lot of the grittier, more raw hip-hop seen elsewhere in Christian music.

With incredible production value, socially and morally conscious lyrics and exciting instrumentation, it blows our minds more people don't know about Young Chozen. Ultimately, his geography and indie status might be what has got in his way so far, but in our opinion, this international artist should be just that--worldwide. 
 
5. DAVID THULIN
Full disclosure: David Thulin hosts The Reconstruction EDM radio program for NRT Radio. But the reason he's hosting a show for us is because we recognized the incredible talent that this Dream Records artist is. The Swedish-born, former Alaskan brush pilot and current video game enthusiast and movie soundtracks buff is flying high in the electronic dance music world, not only releasing an album and an EP so far with Dream, but starting an EDM sub-label within Dream, called Dröm. 

Thulin is known for taking original songs and rebuilding them from the ground-up. He has produced some pretty incredible remixes for Beckah Shae, Colton Dixon, Remedy Drive and his brother, pop artist Jonathan Thulin, among others. 

Some bands are just waking up to Thulin's remix prowess, as evidenced by the broader clientele handing him their songs on Thulin's latest EP, Reconstruction 2.1, but just as David Guetta is the go-to mix master for mainstream music, this David should be remixing the likes of tobyMac, Britt Nicole, Lecrae--you name it. EDM is just emerging in Christian music, and we believe the guy at the front of the line should be David Thulin.

6. THE NEVERCLAIM
The Neverclaim perfectly blends Southern rock and folk with overt praise and worship lyrics and an engaging stage show. And beyond that, the band has hearts for ministry beyond just their music, making a point to pray for people who attend their shows (and in some cases, see God do some pretty incredible things). These are the guys you want to be cheering for. Their self-titled label debut is chock-full of potential hits ("Mighty Jesus", "Pearl of Great Price", "My Soul Longs"... I could go on and on...) that haven't seen the light of day. Plain and simple, they need to take their rightful place in Christian music alongside Southern rock powerhouses Third Day and NEEDTOBREATHE.
 
7. KRISTIAN STANFILL
Kristian Stanfill has a great voice, a fantastic worship leader presence and even a great couple of solo albums, including 2011's Mountains Move. Perhaps his biggest obstacle from being one of the most well-known worship leaders in America is the fact that as a member of the Passion Worship Band, he's a tad overshadowed by THE most well-known worship leader in America, Chris Tomlin. The truth is, Stanfill is a tremendous singer-songwriter-worshipper in his own right and his giftedness goes beyond just the appearance of being Tomlin's second string quarterback. 

8. LOVE & THE OUTCOME
Husband-and-wife team Jodi King and Chris Rademaker--Love & the Outcome--have released a sonically relevant debut album that successfully walks the line between contemporary and pop. Though they're probably known so far as a "one-hit wonder" for the song "He Is With Us," there's far more to this release than what's hit the airwaves. It would seem to us that the sound this duo has produced would be a slam-dunk for Christian radio and for Christian music fans. Hopefully the group's stint on Winter Jam this year will jump-start some awareness in the music community.
 
9. BELLARIVE
It's tough for a worship band to not be aligned with a large church like Hillsong, New Life, Elevation or Passion City. You get a built-in megachurch audience and the clout that comes with that. Perhaps that's why one of the most worshipful and creative praise bands in Christian music, Bellarive, hasn't quite caught on yet. The band's debut release on Sparrow Records, The Heartbeat, is a shock to the system of expectations for praise and worship albums. Anointed and creative, The Heartbeat is one of the best worship albums of this decade so far, and so many of its amazing songs just haven't made it into people's ears and hearts. Hopefully the band's forthcoming new album (due later this year) will get more attention.

10. HOUSE OF HEROES
In our opinion, House of Heroes should be one of the biggest bands in Christian music. The former Gotee Records signees are intensely creative beyond just the standard verse-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus, 4/4-time formula that bands typically employ. They provide witty and poetic lyrics, musically interesting arrangements, awesome harmonies and scorching guitars. Why they're not on the same level (popularity-wise) as Switchfoot, Skillet and RED is beyond us. They're a fantastic example of why the claims that "There's no good Christian music" and "Christian music just copies everything else" absolutely hold no water anymore. Even the band's "B-sides" album is better than most of the rock out there. 
 
HONORABLE MENTIONS
City Harbor has a Nashville contemporary sound with some folk and pop overtones, and although the duo has developed a good following, they haven't quite broken through into Christian music's consciousness. The Classic Crime, like House of Heroes, is making some pretty amazing rock music, but largely has a cult following, when they should be one of Christian rock's favorites. VOTA is an incredible pop-worship band whose Love Found Me perhaps was ahead of its time, and the band deserves a lot of credit. Hopefully they aren't hampered at all by their former band name, Casting Pearls. Robbie Seay Band, known for eschewing self-promotion, has made tremendously thoughtful and creative worship music that goes far beyond their one radio single, "Song of Hope"--most recently with a Psalms project. 

Shine Bright Baby provides a pop-friendly, female-fronted rock band whose current singles--not unlike Everfound--have represented a contemporary style that neglects the more rockin' aspects of the band. Despite founding Winter Jam and being around for a long time, NewSong, especially as of late, makes some fantastic contemporary music that's lost in the shuffle as chart-topping darlings MercyMe, Sidewalk Prophets and Casting Crowns dominate the genre. Vertical Church Band suffers a similar condition as church-based worship bands from bigger names dominate the conversation. 

Matt Langston's two projects--The Jellyrox and Eleventyseven--both present some of the best synth-pop in Christian music, but despite once being signed to a major label, the music hasn't yet transcended the groups' dedicated followers. Finally, we're giving a shout-out to Royal Tailor on here, but only marginally, because it appears that after largely being ignored during their incredible first release, the band is starting to gain some much-deserved traction in Christian music.

Which bands do you think are the most underrated?