Vagabonds
by
The Classic Crime The title to The Classic Crime's latest long player implies a certain need to travel; and while the alternative rock act is no stranger to touring, the inspiration actually comes from a more missions-minded...
Eternity Invades
by
Vicky Before UK born and bred singer/songwriter, Vicky Beeching, began her pursuit of professional music she enrolled as a theology student at Britain's renowned Oxford University to ensure her spirit-led songs...
Miracle
by
Robbie Seay Band Quick disclaimer: What I don't mean to say is "if you've heard one Robbie Seay Band album, you've heard them all." At the same time, RSB's latest batch of worshipful pop/rock tunes, entitled Miracle, features...
DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION: A restored, stronger vessel | Posted September-29-2008
First, let us pause to reflect on all the injustice in the musical world; which was manifest in how vastly under-appreciated and underrated P.O.D.’s 2007 Testify was… Okay, the past is now past, and bygones will be bygones.
In more than a figurative sense, much relational patching up was certainly part of the process of this unexpected reunion following the somewhat public split between guitarist Marcos Curiel and the band five short years ago. His presence is immediately felt in the full sonic production throughout When Angels & Serpents Dance. The dude’s got style, and he could probably have his guitar tones trademarked if he wanted. Part Latino spice, part controlled tone and metallic muscle, Curiel picks right up where he left off with Satellite. The relaxed yet pounding riffs in “Condescending,” which features a lyrical tongue-lashing akin to the righteous venting of “Anything Right,” just beg for full volume treatment. His guitar leads in the dancehall-tinged “I’ll Be Ready” are enough to make a master like Carlos Santana proud.
Other highlights include the compelling story-telling approach in “It Can’t Rain Every Day.” Vocalist Sonny Sandoval’s poetic use of narrative adds an almost visual element, as empathy toward the song’s characters is easy to grasp. The stylish “Kalifor-eye-a” shows the band stirring up a concoction of its usual eclectic influences of funk, reggae, hip-hop and plenty of big-time guitar rock & roll. The guest vocal appearance of Mike Muir (Suicidal Tendencies) is announced with “Do you have any idea what this is? West Coast legendary, open eyes family business…” as Sandoval and Muir trade high-velocity riffs in tribute to their fine state. Helmet’s Page Hamilton also makes a guest appearance in the almost destructive “God Forbid.” Not to be outdone by outside players, Curiel takes center stage for the beautiful “Roman Empire” flamenco guitar instrumental that precedes the title track.
If this amazing album doesn’t get the music world’s attention upon its release, there just might have to be a revolution. - Doug Van Pelt
This review has been reprinted on NRT with permission from CCMMagazine.com. Click here to visit CCMMagazine.com today!
A PASSIONATE JOURNEY | Posted September-29-2008
Like the men on the road to Emmaus, Chris Taylor met Christ at a time and place in his life when he least expected it, but it changed his direction and gave him a yearning to follow. This passion eventually led to his debut album, Take Me Anywhere, a swirling and beautiful mix of progressive pop and artistic modern worship.
The lyrics are sincere and better written than anything you are hearing on Christian radio right now. This is a guy thinking about things like how God isn’t constrained by space and time and looking forward to taking a trip with Christ, wherever God wants to take him.
On the sweeping epic “Atmosphere,” Chris sings, “Show me how to love profoundly/I want everything you are.” It is this passion for the journey that fuels the textured and airy opening anthem “Turn Me Around,” with lush and melodic keyboards and soaring production, as well as the more guitar driven pop hooks of “You See Through Me”—a song you will be humming to yourself for a long time after you’ve heard it.
The inspired lyrics and amazing melodies on Take Me Anywhere will sweep you up on a journey that will take you beyond all those other modern worship and art pop albums out there. This is a record that will make you want to worship, and it does so it with art and intelligence. -Dr. Tony Shore
This review has been reprinted on NRT with permission from CCMMagazine.com. Click here to visit CCMMagazine.com today!
CRAZY GOOD | Posted September-29-2008
Featuring “Crazy Beautiful,” one of the catchiest songs in recent memory, new OMG Records band Chasen brings simple, raw-sounding songs on Shine Through The Stars. In a world of over-produced music, Chasen is a refreshing throwback to genuinely good tunes.
A definite highlight of the album is “Drown.” Featuring the lyrics, “I fell in love with somebody like you/And I know that, yeah, you wanted me to/You taught me who I was/ but…I don’t want to drown,” the song is a movie soundtrack waiting to happen.
Although most of the songs have an acoustic feel, upbeat tracks are delightfully dispersed throughout the CD to shake up the tempo and keep the listener’s attention. Worshipful lyrics and straight-up worship songs flow fluidly with the rest of the album and remind the listener that Chasen seeks to glorify God and not themselves.
The best and worst part of Shine Through The Stars happens on the same song: the hidden track. The best part is this is the best hidden track heard in years. The worst part is that it’s a hidden track, and listeners have to fast forward to get to it. However, considering how great of a song “Shine Through The Stars” is, that’s the best worst-case scenerio to have. –Lindsay Scranton
This review has been reprinted on NRT with permission from CCMMagazine.com. Click here to visit CCMMagazine.com today!
MTV GOT IT RIGHT | Posted September-29-2008
Like many artists who’ve made it big through grassroots support, Seattle-based rockers The Myriad had prime TV show placement to help get the proverbial ball rolling. In addition to placement on “The Real World: Denver,” the band sealed its “Emerging Artists” status by getting handpicked by MTV for the “Dew Circuit Breakout” challenge, which The Myriad ended up winning, thanks to several million voters.
So to say that expectations are high for the band’s Koch Records’ debut, With Arrows, With Poise, is a serious understatement. But thanks to a pitch-perfect set list packed with one clever song after the next, rock & roll fans won’t leave the listening experience disappointed. In fact, there’s not a dud in the 12-track bunch, a rarity in our singles-driven, iPod age.
What makes these songs really pop is an intuitive knack for melody (see “Forget What You Came For” for the band’s best work) and the polished yet decidedly artsy production from Michael Ilbert (The Cardigans, Kent, The Hives). Just when the listener is expecting the song to head in a certain direction, there’s one surprising turn after the next, which leads to a rewarding listening experience that should easily cement the band’s status as “one to watch.” –Christa A. Banister
This review has been reprinted on NRT with permission from CCMMagazine.com. Click here to visit CCMMagazine.com today!
EXPLOSIVE LIVE EXPERIENCE THAT’S BEST ON DVD | Posted September-29-2008
Not only is Underoath one of the most intense live acts on the road regardless of genre, but the hard rockers are among the most popular (no matter solo or on the “Rockstar Energy Mayhem Tour”). Though catching the band in its inaugural audio/visual concert collection is a fitting snapshot for anyone wanting to relive or initially encounter the undertaking, it doesn’t quite match the explosiveness of the in-person experience.
For starters, the CD portion of Survive, Kaleidoscope is culled from several shows, which demonstrates the band’s searing consistency regardless of the city, but lacks the recorded continuity of a single date. However, it doesn’t taint the furious guitar thrashes of “In Regards To Myself” and the scream-filled proclamation “Young and Aspiring,” even if Underoath’s frenetic audience participation can’t be gleaned from a stereo session.
Thankfully, the accompanying DVD corrects many of those minor blunders, coming straight from the Electric Factory in Philadelphia and allowing members to come literally as close as the cameras allow. From the early “Returning Empty Handed” to the encore “Moving For the Sake of Motion,” the players’ unrelenting force is contagious, while the more melodic-minded will still find solace throughout the reflective “To Whom It May Concern.” It still won’t match the hysteria of actually being there, but at least this footage aptly provides the next closet opportunity. –Andy Argyrakis
This review has been reprinted on NRT with permission from CCMMagazine.com. Click here to visit CCMMagazine.com today!
CONTINUING TO EMPOWER A NEW GENERATION | Posted September-29-2008
The latest installment in the Passion series is God of This City, a live disc featuring the best moments of Passion ’07 and regional events which visited six cities this past fall and spring. Fourteen tracks include favorites from Chris Tomlin, Charlie Hall, David Crowder Band, Christy Nockels, Matt Redman, Kristian Stanfill and Fee. Songs like Tomlin’s “Let God Arise,” Crowder’s “The Glory of It All” and Redman’s “Shine” rock harder live than on the original recordings. There are numerous moments of collective worship where the live choir of voices shine through. And if you attended any of the Passion events over the past year, it makes for a memorable keepsake to draw you back to the experience.
The six new songs obviously shine. The title track is by far the best song of the collection. Chris Tomlin’s passionate vocals, underscored by a soft piano, work in tandem to build to a powerful chorus that’s extremely fitting for this season in the life of Passion, as Giglio & Co. set out this month on a 17-city world tour. The lyrics eloquently state, “Greater things are yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city,” an anthem sure to be chanted throughout the world as Passion takes its timeless message to the nations.
Other stand-out new tunes include Christy Nockels’ beautiful rendition of Hillsong United’s “Hosanna,” Chris Tomlin’s anthemic “Sing Sing Sing” (sure to show up on his much-anticipated new studio album) and Matt Redman’s tender ballad “God of Our Yesterdays.”
A good live album breathes new life into songs and creates an atmosphere that transports the listener to the time of the live experience. You won’t be able to listen to this record without belting out the choruses to these songs alongside the attendees of these events. God of This City puts listeners in the center of the heartbeat of Passion. And if the new tracks are any indication, greater things are yet to come from the artists represented on this project. –Lindsay Williams
This review has been reprinted on NRT with permission from CCMMagazine.com. Click here to visit CCMMagazine.com today!
GOODNESS AT THE CORE | Posted September-29-2008
After listening to the first few tracks from Run Kid Run’s sophomore release, it would be easy to dismiss the group as nothing more than a typical pop/rock band, the likes of which have been saturating the musical landscape for far too long. Seemingly devoid of anything original or inspirational—especially where the vocals are concerned—the casual listener may be tempted to take an apathetic approach to this offering. However, the momentum of the album is such that it gradually takes hold of your senses, and you will eventually find yourself singing along.
Songs such as “Fall Into the Light,” “One in a Million” and “Sure Shot” are infused with the trademark hooks and melodies that garnered the band acclaim on its first release. Along with the help of producer James Paul Wisner (Underoath, Dashboard Confessional), the band also manages to create some intricate arrangements for this new disc that show a sense of maturity in its songwriting skills. Lyrically, RKR is as steadfast as ever, always returning to the “core” of Truth that God is from whom all love flows.
Although not a perfect album, there is still a lot to love about Love at the Core. –Paul Durham
This review has been reprinted on NRT with permission from CCMMagazine.com. Click here to visit CCMMagazine.com today!
FULL & LOVELY | Posted September-29-2008
Somewhere between the prescient life observations of Chris Rice and the passionate, pop radio worship anthems of Chris Tomlin resides the exuberant, relentlessly upbeat ruminations of Matt Maher (pronounced ‘Mar’ like ‘Car’). Though Empty & Beautiful might be an introduction of sorts to fans of contemporary Christian music, it is, in fact, Maher’s fourth album. (His first three were released in the Catholic market by OCP Records.)
Maher and his team of songwriters, players and producers expend tremendous effort crafting pure pop tunes to embellish solid lyrics that explore the attributes of God and our response to Him. The result is a 12-song collection that actually sounds effortless, familiar and inviting, even though it plumbs the depths of theological truth.
The bright and bouncy opening track, which oddly enough sounds like an anthem for the Reformation, boldly declares, “Your Grace is Enough” (previously recorded by Chris Tomlin). “Look Like a Fool” uses a gently rocking rhythm to declare the nature of what the Apostle James calls, “true religion”: “Feeding the hungry/Clothing the naked/Giving the homeless a place to rest/Visiting the prisoner/Lifting up the lowly.”
Grace, love, truth—Maher’s songs challenge, encourage, teach, exhort and rejoice while making you feel good just by listening to them. Yeah, this is good stuff. –Mike Parker
This review has been reprinted on NRT with permission from CCMMagazine.com. Click here to visit CCMMagazine.com today!
Something For Metalheads and Soft Rockers Alike | Posted September-29-2008
At first blush, Since October is your average Linkin Park-esque, modern rock outfit with a knack for rap vocals and giving your parents a headache. The band’s album, This is My Heart, boasts rhymes so loud and riffs so fierce they’d make P.O.D. proud. (Coincidentally, Since October’s release was produced by Travis Wyrick, who has produced much of P.O.D.’s work.)
“My Heart,” the record’s opening track, sets a tone of some of the hardest stuff you’ll ever hear from a group of 20-something small-town Christians with tattoos and/or dreadlocks. “Beautiful” and “Disaster” continue in that vein, with semi-repetitive but satisfying lyrical themes, like finding beauty in the imperfect and God’s unending grace. There are breaks in that enjoyable hard-rocking monotony, though, as in “In This Moment” and “Waiting.”
If you appreciate Linkin Park, P.O.D. and their contemporaries, then this is a band you ought to check out. But you’ll want to leave the softer tracks for listeners with more sensitive ears. Here, Since October is far from the rap-rocking norm. These songs are lush, melodic and downright pretty—a style even the most talented rap-tinged alt-rock bands have trouble conquering. But Since October has done so, and in this, listeners learn that the band is at its best when the members rest their vocal cords and calm down. –Christy Gordon
This review has been reprinted on NRT with permission from CCMMagazine.com. Click here to visit CCMMagazine.com today!
SWITCHFOOT LITE, ANYONE? | Posted September-29-2008
New Reunion Records band Tenth Avenue North comes off as a welter-weight version of Cali-rockers Switchfoot: similar voice, similarly breezy, pop/rock band, albeit with more obvious (and more obviously Christian) lyrics. The lovely, chiming first song, “Love Is Here,” seems primed for radio, its politely rocking chorus proclaiming, “Love is pouring from His brow…and from His side.” Both it and the equally pretty “Hold My Heart” could be adult contemporary mixes of undiscovered Switchfoot tracks, sans the philosophy major lyrics.
Instead, in a few instances, you get too-simple songwriting: “Lift Us Up To Fall” is beset by a too-sing-songy chorus, also a problem on “Let It Go” and elsewhere. Despite promising, energetic songs like “Break Me Down” and the disc’s more reflective second half, one never escapes comparing vocalist Mike Donehey to Jon Foreman. As comparisons go, that’s a happy one. Though it doesn’t reach the heights of Red or Leeland’s debuts, Over and Underneath is worth a listen on its own merits; it’s consistently listenable, if not wholly original, from start to finish. –Beau Black
This review has been reprinted on NRT with permission from CCMMagazine.com. Click here to visit CCMMagazine.com today!
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