Reviewed by Paul S Ganney

This album from the Rocklin, California-based band leaps from your speakers like a caged ferret sensing daylight - a massive opening riff, buzzsaw guitars, fabulous chorus, grinding bass, solid drumming: what's not to like? And then it lifts into the intro of track two. Surely they can't keep this up? Well, they pretty much can - whilst they dip things a bit in the middle of the CD they then go for the big finish: the anthemic "Always You" and radio-friendly version of "God Of Fire". Lyrically it's praise and worship (I get so fed up with asking myself "who's this 'you' we're singing to?" - not with this lot); musically it's indie guitars meets modern metal. There's the U2-isms, the Tim Hughes-a-likes, the Sum 41-and-a-bit and the Snow Patrol-ish bits (plus the Arctic Monkeys-styled intro to "What I've Found" and the Nightwish-y "God Of Fire"). It's wonderful and every time you think it's been great it just seems to get better (the lead guitar beneath the vocal on "All For Love", for example). If I was to nit-pick (me?) then I'd say that it's not massively original; that the vocals aren't the best I've heard (mind you, I said that of Larry Norman when I first heard him). But they do it so well and I did love the interplay between the two lead vocals and the way they sat just above the band, singing on the wave of energy created there (eg, "Made Alive").

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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