The highly anticipated, annual Christian metal and hardcore powerhouse tour, Scream The Prayer, has been announced for 2012. The tour with be headlined by Demon Hunter (on select dates), along with Emery, Sleeping Giant, Mychildren Mybride, Close Your Eyes, Hundredth, The Great Commission, Gideon, A Bullet For Pretty Boy, and Your Memorial. The current dates can be viewed below, and more are in the process of being announced. For more info on Scream The Prayer 2012, visit the tour's Facebook page.

06/22/12 - Nashville, TN @ Rocketown
06/23/12 - Douglasville, GA @ The 7 Venue
06/24/12 - Jacksonville, FL @ Murray Hill Theatre
06/26/12 - Charlotte, NC @ Amos Southend
06/27/12 - Richmond, VA @ Kingdom
06/28/12 - Baltimore, MD @ Sonar
06/30/12 - Dayton, OH @ The Attic Club
07/01/12 - Joliet, IL @ Mojoe's

Artist: The Great Commission
Album: Heavy Worship
Release Date: July 12, 2011
Label: Ain't No Grave Records

Over two years have passed since the release of The Great Commission's debut album, And Every Knee Shall Bow, and those two years have been filled with almost non-stop touring, new members, a new label, and a new musical outlook. Heavy Worship finds The Great Commission moving on from their heavy, death metal style, and taking more of a metalcore direction. To add even more dimension to their music, clean vocals are also very prominent on the album, and are done by one of the band's three guitarists, Victor Cota.

"Don't Go To Church, Be The Church" starts off with the words "I am a walking revival," before exploding into a breakdown, which is followed by a fast pace and the first clean vocal chorus of the album. The question "Will you stand with this generation or will you watch it dig its own grave?" is posed to the listener of "The Walking Dead," which takes on a sludgier sound. One of the album's highlights, "When It Rains It Pours" has the hope-filled message of "One day the rain will come and wash away my pain, one day the rain will come and wash away my shame," preceding a breakdown of "Let the rain fall down!"

The next few songs are lyrically a bit more weighty, the first being "Draw The Line." The song speaks of the war within, and inner struggle. On "Preaching To The Choir," the message is directed at Christians, who only live (or act) their faith out on Sundays. "Weight Of The World" states that with Christ, we are not alone, even if the weight of the world crashes down on us. Some great harmonies are found in the clean vocals of "The Prodigal Son," and "Road To Damascus" starts out with only clean vocals, shaking up the typical song structure found on the album. The use of some vocal distortion is heard during the opening of "The Juggernaut," one of Heavy Worship's only tracks lacking the use of a clean chorus, but instead breakdowns take their place. "Reap What You Sow" follows suit, no clean vocals and breakdowns a plenty. To close the album, The Great Commission pull off a great cover of Hillsong's "Came To My Rescue (Be Lifted High)," which is very well the album's highlight. After playing the song live numerous times, it is a treat to finally have a recorded version of their passionate rendition, made up of dual vocals from Victor and frontman Justin Singh.

Overall: The sophomore release from The Great Commission, Heavy Worship, is a solid album from Californian six-piece. The new musical direction from the band aims for a metalcore sound, complete with clean vocals and plenty of chugging, which brings with it not much variety from song to song, most of them sounding similar. The album is lyrically both hopeful and weighty at times, with one purpose, to bring glory to God. Heavy Worship does boast a number of good tracks, especially the Hillsong cover, and for that, is still worth being checked out.

Rating: 7/10

Tracklisting:

1. Don't Go To Church, Be The Church
2. The Walking Dead
3. When It Rains It Pours
4. Draw The Line
5. Preaching To The Choir
6. Weight Of The World
7. The Prodigal Son
8. Road To Damascus
9. The Juggernaut
10. Reap What You Sow
11. Came To My Rescue (Be Lifted High)

(Buy Here)

The Great Commission have just released a music video for their new single, "Draw The Line," the first song off their upcoming album, Heavy Worship, which will be out July 12th via Ain't No Grave Records. The album can also be pre-ordered here.

Ain't No Grave Records have just put up some very nice pre-order packages for their upcoming July 12th releases of Heavy Worship from The Great Commission and Kingdom Days In An Evil Age from Sleeping Giant. The many different pre-orders can be viewed and purchased here. ANGR will also be releasing Volition, the new album from As Hell Retreats, on July 26th, and the pre-orders for that release should be up sometime soon.

The annual Elmira, NY music festival, iMatter, has announced their lineup for this year. The festival will take place on Labor Day weekend, September 2nd-4th, and will feature a great lineup of 12 bands, who are listed below. For more information on iMatter 2011, check out the festival's Facebook page.

iMatter Festival 2011 Lineup:

August Burns Red
Emery
The Ember Days
Impending Doom
Texas In July
A Plea For Purging
Life In Your Way
Hundredth
I, The Breather
The Great Commission
My Heart To Fear
Gideon
To Speak of Wolves

Ain't No Grave Records, a new Christian metal/hardcore label that is sure to be making waves in the heavy music scene, have announced release dates for their first three releases from their roster. On July 12th, they will be releasing Sleeping Giant's Kingdom Days In An Evil Age, as well as The Great Commission's Heavy Worship, and on July 26th, As Hell Retreats' Volition will be released. In addition to that, As Hell Retreats' first single, "Young Heretic," can be heard here. For more information on Ain't No Grave Records (ANGR) and their roster, check out their website, and be sure to catch all their bands on this summer's Scream The Prayer tour!

The lineup for this summer's Scream The Prayer tour has been announced. Norma Jean will be headlining, support from nine other bands, such as The Chariot and Sleeping Giant, which can be seen above. The dates have yet to be announced, but look for more info on the tour soon.