Pieces of a Real Heart
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Sanctus Real Since releasing Say It Loud on Sparrow records Sanctus Real has been a consistent voice is CCM. Hits like "Things Like You (Everyone's Everything)," "I'm Not Alright," and "We Need Each Other" have...
Breaking The Silence EP
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The Letter Black Known as Breaking The Silence, The Letter Black or a Flyleaf/Fireflight re-make, one Tooth and Nail’s newest artists have now provided fans with their first project, Breaking The Silence EP. The band is...
Forget And Not Slow Down
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Relient K Forget And Not Slow Down sis not a Relient K album. Yes, on the side of an album is says ‘Relient K’, but comparing this release to Relient K’s career is difficult. This Relient K uses five new weapons...
No Serenity, No problem | Posted February-06-2008
First things first, the album this band and Healing of Harms has nothing to do with Joss Wheaton's TV show Firefly (for anyone who got Fireflight and firefly mixed up), and despite the name of the first song "serenity". Now that it's been cleared up, Fireflight is a terrific rock band fronted by amazingly talented Dawn Richardson.
Dawn Richards vocals are very impressive, as she pulls of the female rock thing very well which is shown in the very first seconds of the opening song "Serenity". Although the transition from verse to the chorus is not that smooth the does chorus flow excellently, which makes for a terrific song. The opposite is true for "Waiting" where the music for the verses are super and the chorus is only half super. The single "you decide" is brilliant, and with Josh Brown from Day of Fire helping, it makes for an awesome song.
Listeners really feel Dawn's incredible voice, especially "it's you". The song "Star of the show" starts slow, but it speeds up, plus it's the most upbeat song of the album. The heaviest song on the CD is "Liar" which is kind of moody and has some screaming going on, but it still rocks. "myself" has a spectacular flow too it, as it's one of the best songs on the album, "Something New" has a great chorus, and "Attitude" is just another great rock song. The lightest on Healing of harms is "More than a love song", which proves that Fireflight could be doing softer music and still be good at it.
Dawn Richardson
Fireflight's lyrics take a whack at lying (liar) ignoring others needs (Action, and More Than a Love Song), and about fights that don't need to be fought (attitude). Being close to God is obviously important to the band, out of that springs songs like "it's you", "waiting", and "Serenity" although the former too really don't spring much inspiration. And with songs like "you decide", it's doubtful that anyone will throw away the CD on account for the lyrics, although they could be better.
With sounds similar to Inhabited and Flyleaf, Firlflight rocks with almost every song. Incredible vocals, terrific music, and fairly good lyrics for an opening project, the Healing of Harms is well done, and Fireflight should have an impressive fan base when there sophomore album comes out.
A | Posted February-06-2008
Eight arrows going one way, with only one lone arrow heading in an opposite direction; that's the cover of Leelands new album Opposite Way which tells a lot about the album already, but most importantly it tells us that award nominated band is back with a very anticipated album.
First off front man Leeland Moorning's voice is high and young, which is not typical of worship artists, but it is refreshing to hear it. The music on the CD can be classified pretty easily: group one is the upbeat medium rock sound that is found on the songs "count me in" which is very catchy, "don't go away", and maybe "let it out now". The next is the light rock sound which most of the album consists of, and last there are the light songs.
The lyrics were a big ear catcher when Leelands songs first hit the radio, as they were not the typical youth effort at worship. "Count me in" is about appreciation to God for what he has done, and "enter the temple" is about yearning for his presence. If you have heard the before mentioned song by Everyday Sunday than you have heard the song "wake up" with more spiritual references.
Themes like praise, love for God, and going against the ways of the world are all in this album. "Falling for you" grasps the concept of being really saved, as opposed to a false convert. Thief in the night" is as one point talking about running away from God, but the chorus has the references of the second coming, which is confusing.
So that's the music; a hand full of soft rock/pop tunes mixed in with light rock worship music. Then there are the lyrics, anything you have not heard before? For going the opposite way of things Leeland sure has not done to well at diversity among lyrics and music of their peers. The appeal in this album is the vocals, and youth of the this worship band, that is the only thing you will find going another way.
We have only just begun | Posted February-06-2008
Tooth and Nails X 2007 is a rock compilation of 17 (plus 4 bonus tracks) of the 2006's best rock songs. One problem right away with this album is the term "rock" means any single with a good beat, with artists ranging from the Newsboys, to MxPx, to Underoath.
The album opens with "Flights" from Falling Up, not a good rock song and not an impressive Falling Up song for that matter. The next choice is the Newsboy title track on one of their albums, "go" is a pop song, but someone must have thought it was harder than it is. The punk band Hawk Nelson puts a very catchy rock tune on with "is forever enough", and X 2007 really jumps into gear after that with hard rocking music from Jeremy Camp ("tonight"), and Seventh day Slumber ("awake")
Then the album slumps with a not very smooth song from Sanctus Real ("fly) and a decent Kutless tune ("somewhere in the sky"), but the back-to-back flying theme was nice. Skillets Heavy "rebirthing" is right at home here, but Underoaths song "writing on the wall" is hard to understand with all the screaming. Thousand Foot krutch is on this album again with another good rock song, "Absolute" "Blaze of Glory" is by audio adrenaline is out of place on the album, and so is the upbeat punk tune "the next big thing".
David Crowder's song "do not move" has a very limited vocabulary and a beat that makes this selection confused at best. One heavy metal band does their main thing (demon hunter with "undying"), while another delivers a solid rock song without any screaming (Emery with "studying politics"). Releint K has been in all the X albums and they are here with a weakfish rock tune, "who I am hates who I've been" and MxPx delivers "role modeling" a awesome punk rock song.
The album ends there and the bonus tracks take over. "Open Wide" by Future of Forestry and "Invisible Hook" by House Of Heroes are duds. And Last Tuesday's song "become what you believe" has a bizarre sound and it doesn't really belong on the album either. A pretty good compilation of the rock songs, but the producers got a little carried away with the verity of music. But they ended the alum well with Run Kid Run... "we have only just begun".
Do you Feel somthing missing? | Posted February-08-2008
"I won't compromise this thing just to make it" That's what Bryce Avary aka The Rocket Summer, says on his song "A Song is Not a Business Plan" on his latest album Do you feel. And for the most part he keeps that statement true.
The music is a perfect blend of pop and rock, with a lot of original sounding piano influenced tunes also. The album starts off with "Break It Out" a fun up beat song that would have been a hit on his last record Hello Good Friend, but this song is just an ordinary good song on this album. The single "so much love" has a fantastic sound to it, and the title track "do you feel" is no less fantastic of original. "Save" is a fun song, but "all I have" just has a great tune.
The extremely catchy "High Life Scenery", may be the best sounding song on the album, and "A Song is Not a Business Plan" goes in the category also. "Taken aback" and "colors" are both upbeat fun tracks and "waiting" is a little on the light side but is still fun. The softest songs on the album are "Run to You" and "so, in this hour...". There plenty of more up-tempo songs on this album than his last and the songs have a much better flow. Averys voice is also is better on Do you Feel, as his non-typical voice flows much better with his music.
The Lyrics are a little more puzzling. A very positive album but it lacks a lot of spirituality, that his last album had, as this could be a mainstream album with no effort. "So, In This Hour...", "Run to You" and "so much love" could be talking about God as well as a girlfriend. "A Song is Not a Business Plan" and "all I have" are both good songs lyrically, but without God in them. Save is a quailty song that is as good as the lyrics get.
Do you Feel is one catchy album, with fun tunes up and down the album, but the lack of God in his lyrics is annoying. The Rocket Summers music is terrific and original, but it still lacks something very important.
Sanctus real | Posted February-06-2008
Sanctus Reals' second album, Fight the Tide, consists of 12 songs plus an alternate version of "everything about you", and a whole lot of fun. The music is pretty much rock but what makes this album stand out is the lyrics.
The rock is nothing that has not been done before, and it does not get that heavy. The First song is the single "everything about you" is about as hard as it gets, but the single "closer" is about as hard, both have good sounds. Some of the songs are a little quirky musical wise such as "Deeds" and the single "the fight song" both a best of the album. "Alone", Message, and "you can't hide" are all up-paced songs which are all solid.
Sanctus Real does a tremendous job with the chorus of the songs, and while some start out dull they pick up and songs like awesome "the show" will have the phrase "you stole the show" stuck in heads. The hit single "Things like you" is a funs song to listen to. "say goodbye" is the best among the softer songs on the album ("where will they go", and "change me"). The alternate version on "everything about you" is only an acoustic version and takes something away from the song.
The lyrics make the songs all the more fun to listen to. Clever writing goes with clever song in the case of "deeds" and "the fight song" which have spectacular lyrics". When it comes to the singles "Closer" and "everything about you" are nice but a little shallow, but "things like you" is a treasure. "Message is also good, and for the most part the entire album is the same way.
A real treat, and while Sanctus Real doesn't have the best doesn't have the best music the lyrics over comes that aspect. Fight the Tide is an album that is an album that has a lot of good singles, but is even better as a whole.
Sara does a poor job of Telling | Posted January-02-2008
Sara Groves has been said to be Christian music's best lyricist. her is her latest project Tell Me what you Know really that level of quality, has simple music but the "strength" of the album, and all Sara Groves albums, is the lyrics.
"Song for my sons" has a light pop sound but, "In the Girl there's a room" Has a bizarre pop sound which is a very unsettling and ends badly. "Love is still a worthy cause" has a good start but is not carried by the chorus, The single "when the saints" is long and really doesn't challenge any fan with the music. "Honesty" and "I saw what I saw" are both light songs. Abstraction is more upbeat, but "the long defeat" and "you are wonderful" weak sounding songs. "Say a prayer" is really simple, and not impressive.
As for the lyrics of Tell Me what You Know A bunch of her songs are particular to Sara Groves, and not to the rest of the listening audience, such as "I saw what I saw" and "say a prayer". The whole point of the album is understand God in a way that other people can tell her but she probably won't ever experience, Groves tries relay that but who knew from "I saw what I saw" that it was about a experience that she had in a foreign country or that "say a prayer" was about a girl in slavery? In that case the songs are unclear. As it stands those two songs are weak by themselves.
"when the saints" is a good anthem for any Christian while "a song for my sons" is for the parents, which really does not relate what Groves is trying to tell them, other than she's trying to tell them something. The song "Abstraction" is fine but it really does not have much to do with anything. "Love Is Still A Worthy Cause" and "You Are Wonderful" are both shallow songs, as is the entire album. "In The Girl There's a Room" is unclear lyrically as well.
Anyone doing some research will defiantly get more out of Tell Me what you know, but Sara Grove's songs should stand out individually, without explanation. Sara Groves music starts out like light pop but ends into very soft music which is disappointing, but to being the best lyricist is all of Christian music, well, Tell Me what you know is not exhibit A.
Everyday Sunday has woken up | Posted February-06-2008
After a pretty weak album (anthems for the imperfect) the punk/pop band Everyday Sunday bounced back in a big way with "Wake Up! Wake Up!". And it was pretty much clear that a change had occurred with their partial hit single "find me tonight".
The first two songs are both singles and both very good, "Lets' go back now" is a fun punk song and has a great flow and the title track "Wake up! Wake up!" is also solid. "Take me out" is an upbeat pop song but is not as good as the first two tracks, but is still nice. "find me tonight" does not have a great punk beat, but is great and has the most mature sound of the album on it.
Another terrific punk song is "apathy for apologies" which has a great chorus, on the flipside is "I'll get over it (Miss Elaineous)" which is not the impressive. "What we are here for" wraps up the good punk songs for the album. The final two songs "From Me To You, and "Tell me you will be there" are both good soft songs. A big improvement for Everyday Sunday, besides their music" is the vocals which go along with the songs much better than their last CD.
The lyrics didn't take much of a climb in Wake Up! Wake Up!, and as expected the lyrics are a little light. "Find Me tonight" and "Wake up! Wake up!" messages are pretty similar and not that deep, and the song "I'll get over it (Miss Elaineous)" is pretty much pathetic. But that bands heart is in the right place ("apathy for apologies", From Me to You, and "Tell me you will be there" are all pretty solid).
A huge improvement, one which will probably put Everyday Sunday up with the big Christian pop/punk bands, the lyrics are still a little shallow and the music still not quite to perfection but c'mon they were only wakening up.
A hit for Pillar | Posted December-08-2007
With the exception of one song ("rewind") Pillars second album, Where do we go from here is pretty much rock. There is not a lot of screaming (if there is it's mostly background) or light rock, simply rock solid music.
Pillars first song and perhaps best on the album is "hypnotized", a terrific rock song which is more or less the albums' title track, and the hardest song is the single "bring me down". Another very good song on the CD is "frontline", and along with that is the song "holding on". "Rewind" is the lightest song on the disc, but is still pretty good at its core, if not a little plan.
The song "dirty little secret" has a very unsettling sound to it, and "one thing" and "after shock" are only okay". The lyrics are mostly decent with a few good songs that stick out like "simply" and "let it out". "Frontline" has a great anthem, while "rewind" has a good message too.
Pillar is similar to Thousand Foot Krutch is some ways, and they struggle with putting more distinction into every song. But overall Where Do We Go from here is a very solid rock album.
Good collection, weak songs disc 2 | Posted November-24-2007
Wow hits 2008 is the collection of all the Christian hits in 2008, even though the songs were released in 2007. Disc 2 is more of the rock collection, but it does ask a question about what Mandisa is doing on a rock album.
The smash hit by tobyMac "Made to love" is a great choice, and one that will be mentioned when the Dove awards come around. Barlow Girl's "I need you to love me" is a pretty weak song despite its success. "Something Beautiful" by the Newsboys is a nice pop song but "me and Jesus" by Stellar Kart is way overrated. Punk band Hawk Nelson put out the nearly worthless song "the show", while Relient K's song "forgiven" is the best of the Wow songs.
Jeremy Camp should have made have made Wow hits with "let it fade", but is on board with "what it means". Mat Kearney's "nothing left to lose" is a great pick, while the over-popular Mandisa has "only the world", which is almost the biggest error on this disc. "Don't give up" by Sanctus real has good lyrics but is a so-so song, While the hugely popular "stand in the rain" by Superchic[k] is not really as powerful as it seems.
Red made Wow for the first time with their song "breathe into me", and Jars of Clay put out another amazing song: "work". Two worthsip songs on Wow hits disc two are "Tears of the saints" song by Leeland (which is good) and "I believe" by Building 429 (which is not so good). And the appearance of NRG will probably be more surprising that good.
A pretty so-so collection of the harder hits around Christian music, which is disappointing that most of lyrics of these songs are not strong. Over all Wow hits disc one and two are not that good, and is over all not worth getting.
Good collection, but weak songs | Posted November-24-2007
Wow hits 2008 is the collection of all the Christian hits in 2008, even though the songs were released in 2007. The first disc is all worship music, and even though these songs were hits, does that make this album a good one?
Chris Tomlin starts everything off with his hugely popular "made to worship" a song which casts aside everything Christians are supposed to do, to only worship. A mistake of a song, which is not even that impressive musically. The over played "Praise you in this storm" is great song by casting crown, and Rush of fools debut hit "undo" is a also a nice song.
"Mountain of God" by third Day and "hold fast" by MercyMe are pretty weak songs, not to mention annoying to listen to over and over again. Natalie Grant has a nice voice on a silly song (awaken), while "find your wings" is a nice song by Mark Harris about letting go. Mathew West's song History is not super impressive in any way but it's pretty good.
A bunch of popular Christian artists, headed by Third day's Mac Powell, formed the band Glory Revealed who came out with the Scripture based song "by his wounds" which is pretty repetitive. "every time I breath" is a solid song by Big Daddy Weave. "Walking her home" by Mark Shultz is sappy, "Come to the cross" by Michael W. Smith is not very good, and Aaron Shust's "give it all away" is not as good as his dove awarded song "my savior my God".
Wow hits really tails off in its second half with artist like Selah, John Waller, and Britt Nicole end it. Unfortunately 2007 really did not have a lot of great Christian Worship hits, but a pretty good collection though.
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