Dizmas may want to stop playing it safe
Posted October 13, 2008
By Nathan,
Dizmas released their sophomore album Tension in June of 2007; now their latest self titled album is out in less than a year. Fast workers? Not exactly. Out of the ten songs on the disc only four are new cuts, the rest are merely five from Tension and one lone track from their debut On a Search in America.
Among the older songs, which none are redone in any way, is the single and possibly their most famous song from their first album, “Redemption, Passion, Glory” a light rock tune with a worship atmosphere that isn’t very impressive. There selection could have been a little better on Tension because repetitive “shake it off” is reckless rock song with an unattractive tune and riffs and the heavy “dance”, while it avoids screaming, is disjointed. “Play it safe” is a decent alternative rock tune but thankfully “jealously hurts” is a solid tock song with a fine bridge.
Their new music centers around the single “yours” which has some electronic sounds in the pop rock is far from cutting edge, though some of it sounds like Lifehouse. ). Unfortunately the first two new songs sound rather stale especially “save the day” which doesn’t take any risks and fails to do anything special. However no everything goes wrong on Dizmas, “Different” matches lead singer Zach Zegan’s vocals very well in an energetic pop/rock tune that has a very good beat. “Worth fighting for” is a breath of fresh air which blends some 80’s throwback with upbeat rock.
One thing about Dizmas that is so encouraging is that they have a no compromise attitude that too few faith fueled modern rock bands have today. Playing in front of a mainstream crowd or a youth group doesn’t change the powerful lyrics contained in every song (excluding “dance”). The singer realizes that the closer he comes to God he is closer to becoming himself on “different” (‘Take my life/Change my heart/Make me different’) and “save the day” centers on how even in tribulation his trust in God will be justified ‘When it feels like life is chaos/You'll be there reminding me that/You will save the day ‘.
Topics vary and don’t get repetitive whether dealing with finding God (“yours”) contemplating how God would die for us (“Redemption, Passion, Glory”) and even defecting hurtful words (“shake it off”). “This is a warning” counsels ‘This is a warning for all of us that are falling/For the lie that we could bigger than God’ while “play it safe” centers around the simple truth “No one seeks God, no, not one” and while demonstrating his point further the song says: ‘Seeing is believing/But belief is not like faith/Faith takes chances/Faith moves mountains’.
It’s odd that this CD isn’t an EP because you could hardly call any of their older material classic, which means that only new fans will pick up the album leaving those faithful followers of Dizmas confused and irritated that their self titled effort isn’t the real thing. Very solid lyrics aside Dizmas' album falls short of any expectations.
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