Reviewed by Jonathan Bellamy

Punk rock. Aaah! So it must be anarchic, base, negative, self-centred, superficial and pointless? NOT!! As the blurb on the sleeve says, "This, album speaks about many topics, many of which you may think don't directly affect you... It's too easy to just complain about society and its problems... Get involved... Jesus turned over the tables of scandal and questioned the motives of the leaders. May we walk in this example." An oil field of burning issues these God-activists have set alight: war, politics, abortion, and justice to name some. Don't get me wrong, these guys aren't trying to play God but they ARE providing a very positive God-centred voice to our decadent world and, combining it with their raw, energised, driving power they have delivered a very potent cocktail of punk rock that any self-confessed Christian nut-job would love to bang his head to. Away from the issues the other songs show real depth and vulnerability to their lyrics. "Kirsten" is an emotive recount of the hit and run murder of the lead singer Spike Nard's sister which superbly draws us into classic punk rock rhythm for the "See The Unseen", a track begging us to look at the truth of who we really are. It says, "I weighed my heart in the hands of love to see where it would lead/Fear, lust and selfishness is all that it would bleed/l took a drink from the well of never ending grace/It changed my fate, it made things straight and I saw you face to face." There are more gems than that but I've said enough.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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