Artist Of The Week - Anchor & Braille

It's been about three years since we've gotten an album from Anchor & Braille, the indie side project of Anberlin's Stephen Christian, but this week, on July 31st, the band's sophomore album will be released. The Quiet Life is a collection of haunting melodies and catchy percussion, certainly a maturation of sound since 2009's Felt. The Quiet Life is available now in stores and online through Tooth & Nail Records.

Admin

Sign In
Christian Rock Rocks - Copyright 2012. Powered by Blogger.

Follow CRR on Twitter

Follow empmag on Twitter

Search

Like CRR on Facebook

no image
// By Unknown



2011 was a great year for music, and looking back, and amazed at the amount of good releases that debuted this year, among numerous other big moments such as bands reuniting, breaking up, and everything in between. Kickstarter has become an amazing way for bands to create new art, and has even brought Five Iron Frenzy back from the dead, eight years after playing their final show in '03.

Below are my personal favorite albums for the year, along with some anticipated albums for 2012. Thanks for the great support of CRR this year, and I'm looking forward to another great year!
- Brooks Ginnan, Christian Rock Rocks founder and writer

Top Albums of 2011:
  1. Thrice- Major/Minor
  2. Emery - We Do What We Want
  3. My Epic - Broken Voice
  4. Switchfoot - Vice Verses
  5. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
  6. Abandon Kansas - Ad Astra Per Aspera
  7. Great Awakening - Songs in Secret
  8. The Ember Days - Emergency
  9. Eisley - The Valley
  10. Moving Mountains - Waves
Cool Hand Luke's final album, Of Man, Owl City's All Things Bright and Beautiful, and La Dispute's Wildlife were a few additional albums that narrowly missed my top 10.

Top Heavy Albums of 2011:
  1. Hands - Give Me Rest
  2. Life In Your Way - Kingdoms
  3. A Plea For Purging - The Life and Death of A Plea For Purging
  4. Phinehas - thegodmachine
  5. Hundredth -  Let Go
  6. Oh, Sleeper - Children of Fire
  7. As Hell Retreats - Volition
  8. August Burns Red - Leveler
  9. A Hope for Home - In Abstraction
  10. Sleeping Giant - Kingdom Days In An Evil Age

Onward to Olympas, Gideon, and Not One Is Upright also all released very solid albums that just missed the list as well.

Favorite EPs (No particular order):

  • Jake Germany - Leftover
  • Friends - Better Off Alone
  • Sleep For Sleepers - Conditions
  • Levi The Poet - Monologues
  • Aaron Newberry - Homewrecker
  • Ocean Is Theory - Future Fears


Favorite New Artists: 
  • sosaveme
  • Kye Kye
  • Listener
  • Sinai Vessel

Most Anticipated Albums of 2012:
  • Showbread
  • The Classic Crime
  • Emery (potential new album, along with acoustic side project)
  • Sons
  • To Speak of Wolves
  • From Indian Lakes
  • Ocean Is Theory
Readmore
Phinehas' 12 Days of Christmas: "The Speaking Stone"
// By Unknown



CRR are excited to bring you a special feature for the month of December; Phinehas' 12 Days of Christmas! For the next 12 days, we will be posting a song, lyrics, and an explanation from the band. Phinehas' new album, thegodmachine, is out now on Red Cord Records.

Day 1: "thegodmachine: The Speaking Stone"



Lyrics: "Trembling in the shadow of your creation/your knees grow weak/watch my eyes beam with gold and you'll keep coming back/if you fixate your desire upon me you'll give me breath with your lungs/feed me living!/I am what you fashioned/your praise gives me power/with it I will devour you"

Explanation: "This song is the preface of the entire album and the lyrics are from the point of view of an idol, or "speaking stone." While obviously idols are dead, so often we feel the need to pour our trust, lives, and time into things that are lifeless and have no true worth. The more we put into our "speaking stone," the more it consumes our lives, and our capacity to love God. We breathe life into it, but, unlike Christ, our idols suck the life out of us.

Of what value is an idol carved by a craftsman? Or an image that teaches lies? For the one who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak. Woe to him who says to wood, "Come to life!" Or to lifeless stone, "Wake up!" Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it. The Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him. - Habakkuk 2:18-20 (NIV)
Readmore
no image
// By Unknown



Ascend The Hill are currently running a Kickstarter to fund their upcoming album, which will be releasing next spring as a 100% free gift through Come&Live!. They have only 10 days left to raise about $10,000, and need all the prayer and financial support they can get. If you are interested in helping fund this album, you can visit this link or check out the widget below. Also, if you haven't already, you can download Ascend The Hill's self-titled album, along with their collection of hymns, Take The World, But Give Me Jesus, from Come&Live! right here.

Readmore
In the Midst of Lions - Shadows
// By xanatwo



Artist: In the Midst of Lions
Album: Shadows
Release Date: November 22, 2011
Label: Facedown Records

Shadows, is a fitting name for In the Midst of Lions' third album, because on this album they are ready to come out of the shadows and into the forefront of the Christian metal scene. Shadows is the band's third album in as many years. Where the band finds time to write/record between tours is a mystery to me, but not only do the find the time to make new music, they also find a way to keep getting better.

Musically, I expected the same kind of generic deathcore style that the band had on the last album, but this albums delivers a much more technical and polished sound. It was more original than anything I've heard from In the Midst of Lion before, and definitely had me excited about the album after the first track. One thing that really jumped out to me was the wicked drumming skills of Alex Livingston. The drums are pretty prominent on this album, and may be some of the best drum work I have heard in all of 2011. The guitar playing is sick, and like I said more technical, and much tighter than I've heard before from the band. Some of the songs took on more of a straight-forward metalcore sound, but they didn't sound like they were from the cookie cutter. There's some cool use of some atmospheric background noises, most notably in "False Idols", which is also one of the standout tracks from Shadows. The band has grown so much as musician in these three short years, and this album shows that growth 100%.

Vocally, Matt delivers some amazing vocal patterns, and one thing I love is he enunciates his lyrics and you can actually understand what he is saying, which is rare in the deathcore scene in my opinion. His screams are deep, and guttural growls which fit the music perfectly, and he tosses in some of the more traditional higher screams as well, like on "Cry of the Oppressed", and it shows his vocal range so well. Lyrically, the band has produced some of their best work. The song "Overcome" is lyrically the best song on Shadows with lines like: "Give me strength/Remove this doubt from my mind/I have built these walls of
weakness/Remove this doubt from my mind/Break down these walls!/Break down these
walls and leave nothing behind." the song is about being ashamed of oneself, and God saying I still love you and don't be ashamed we all have bad times, "erase all doubt" and know that I will always be here for you. That is truly powerful and shows just how deeply our God loves us. This album is full of passionate, inspirational, and original lyrics.

Overall: Shadows is by far the best album In the Midst of Lions has released, and shows such great growth from the band in their short existence. The album is absolutely the best I've heard in the deathcore/death metal scene this year, and is easily in contention for the best album of 2011. Their record label has a void to fill with the departure of For Today, and In the Midst of Lions could very well be the band to fill that void. On Shadows, the band shows that there are sick of being in the background and are ready to take the "mainstream" metal scene by storm and show they are a force to be reckoned with. If Shadows is a sign of where this band is going and what we can come to expect from them there will be several excited metalhead, myself included. The only bad thing I can say about this album is that it's only ten tracks and leaves you craving for more from In the Midst of Lions.

Rating: 8/10

Recommended Tracks: "False Idols", "Overcome", "Cry of the Oppressed", and "New Beginnings"

Reviewed by: Michael Small

Tracklisting:
1. False Idols
2. The Call
3. Take Your Place
4. Overcome
5. Cry of the Oppressed
6. New Beginnings
7. An Offering
8. Hardened Hearts
9. Prepare the Way
10. One for All

Readmore
Seventh Day Slumber - The Anthem of Angels
// By xanatwo



Artist: Seventh Day Slumber
Album: The Anthem of Angels
Release Date: November 15, 2011
Label: BEC Recordings

Seventh Day Slumber have been busy. The Anthem of Angels is the band's fourth album in five years. This album is their first original studio album since 2008's Finally Awake. The band's last two albums were a Spanish album of previously released songs, and a worship album. The band returns to the form of the aforementioned Fully Awake on the new album, with the passionate lyrics and vocals, and rocking music.

The album is what it is, in the sense that is a Seventh Day Slumber album, you're going to get your run-of-the-mill rock tracks here and there, and the rest of the album is your more modern CCM music. Not saying this is bad, just what the band does. There are a few rock songs on here, that could get the adrenalin pumping, but most of the guitar playing is along the lines of an edgier adult contemporary band. The Drums are practically nonexistent, or at least never really featured prominently on the album. If you want a solid rock track like "Awake" from their last album your best bet is "Never Too Far Gone" which is one of the examples of the band's rockier side. The song is musically the highlight of the album. On their worship album the band experimented with some string arrangements (How Great is Our God) in the vein of the newer Skillet material, I was looking forward to more of that on The Anthem of Angels, but was sadly let down.

Lyrically, the album has some of the best, most passionate lyrics you'll hear outside of a church service. It is clear by listening to Joe Rojas lyrics that he has a deep love for Christ and isn't afraid to say it in his music. One lyric that sticks out to me is in the song "Knows My Name": "I'm trying to see myself the way you do/Sometimes it's just so hard/There are days that I'm ashamed." Sometimes I am ashamed to call myself a Christ follower, because I don't always give that name a good reputation, but God doesn't care if we slip up he still loves us, and knows our name. That's just awesome. Most of the lyrics are CCM lyrics, very straight-forward worshipful lyrics, with great passion and meaning to them. I have always loved Joe's lyrics and this album continues that pattern. Vocally, Joe doesn't stray too far from what he's been doing for years with the band. It's a very smooth, yet powerful voice. Joe makes you feel the passion and intensity of his words as he sings them, which is a very impressive thing.

Overall: Like I said before The Anthem of Angels is what it is, a Seventh Day Slumber album. Most of the albums sound very similar to each other, which could become boring to fans. However, they do what they do very well, and I still find myself getting excited for each new album, and furthermore thoroughly enjoying each album. I think that streak is coming to end with this new album though, there were a few songs that I enjoyed, but overall the album was too slow, and lost my attention on several occasions. Hopefully the band will come back next year with a new album and restore some of that more upbeat rock tempo.

Rating: 6/10

Recommended Tracks: "Wasted Life", "Never Too Far Gone", and "Knows My Name".

Reviewed by: Michael Small

Tracklisting:
1. Wasted Life
2. Love Came Down
3. One Mistake
4. Addicted to My Pain
5. Never Too Far Gone
6. Pieces
7. Crash
8. Back Where I Began
9. Knows My Name
10. My Life
11. How He Loves

Readmore
no image
// By Tabor


Thrice is not breaking up. If nothing has broken us up by now, I doubt anything ever could.

However, we will be taking a break from being a full-time band, and the upcoming tour in the Spring will be the last one for the foreseeable future.

Playing music for the past 13 years with Riley, Ed, and Teppei has been such a gift. We have been able to see the world, share music with thousands and thousands of people, and make records with a variety of talented and inspiring people. The four of us have been through many highs and lows and overcome them together. I value their friendship, and it has been a great priviledge to play alongside them for so long. They are truly an amazingly gifted group of people, and the ways we’ve grown together as people and musicians has been a joy to experience.

Along the way we have adapted to many changing situations, especially the growing families of both Teppei and myself, but it has been harder and harder for me with each step. I have three little girls now under the age of 5, and it is a huge strain on my family and I when I’m away for several weeks at a time. The way we’ve been doing things for a while is simply not sustainable for me anymore.
I don’t know what the future looks like for Thrice, or for any of us individually. I do know that I would love to make more music in the future with them, as well as play some shows or short tours, but for the time being, I need to step out of the role of full time touring/recording musician, and will do so after this tour. I will continue to make music in various capacities I’m sure, and continue in my work as a Worship Director at Mars Hill Church in Orange County.

I know this will be very disappointing news to many people, and for that I am truly sorry. The amount of support and love we’ve been given in our career is staggering and overwhelming. I know I’m biased, but I think we have the best fans in the world.

This upcoming tour should be a lot of fun. We are planning for it to be somewhat of a celebration of the last 13 years and I’m sure we’ll be breaking out a bunch of songs that have been buried in the archives. I hope to see you out there to celebrate with us.

I never expected to be able to do any of this, let alone do it for 13 years, with such amazing bandmates, such gifted and hard working crew and management, and such incredible and loyal fans.
Thank you all.

Readmore
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)