Month: March 2023

Grave Declaration is (was?) a symphonic/atmospheric black metal project from Norway. While that’s not so unusual, what set the band apart was its distinct emphasis on worship. Self-touted as “worship metal” the band’s lyrical emphasis was on a praiseworthy connection to the Creator. Their sound is firmly within the atmospheric branch of black metal, as opposed to the more raw, primitive sounds often associated with the genre. With ties to stalwarts Antestor, and underground legends Vaakevandring, Grave Declaration had the pedigree and the chops to prove their worthiness.… Continued →

This song “A New Hope” by underdog heroes – Five Iron Frenzy, was released after the tragic Columbine shootings that took place in Colorado back in 1999. It is just as touching and relevant today as it was almost 25 years ago. I will not spend any time on getting political here. The world has enough activists, and my voice is but a tiny speck of dust on a pile of needles hidden within a massive haystack. What happened in Nashville and frankly around the world on a continual basis is about more than just weapons, drugs, mental health, hate, anger, pain, fear, etc.… Continued →

Pulling from my childhood, Gary’s The Light Inside was a constant in my CD player. I know he’s country, but he also rocks w/ Floodgates & other tracks Finally, Sweet Glow of Mercy & album opener Where are the Broken Hearts? are 90s staples. He was formerly married to Amy Grant which was pretty big news back in the day. Check him out as he has done multiple endeavors over the years. And, he is NOT the Gary Chapman who wrote the Five Love Languages. … Continued →

Theocracy came out and announced that they are releasing a new album this year and it’ll be on a new label home for the first time after releasing 4 incredible albums through Ulterium Records. No bad blood and Ulterium will still release other music on a more scaled down level. I’ve embedded the full statement below. No word yet on the album title or even a new song just yet. All will be announced shortly. Stay tuned!… Continued →

Fallstar has dropped 2 new songs in the past couple weeks and they rule. The latest song titled “Timebender & The Jet Engine” has a music video tied to it and once you watch it, the song becomes the video and vice versa. Go check it out below this message and watch some great Godzilla stomping metal(core) action. New album “Sacred Mirrors” out July 14th on Facedown Records.… Continued →

Letter Kills have officially announced a reunion show at The Observatory in Santa Ana, California on July 28th with Dead American and 1 more special guest. Check out this link for further info on tickets.… Continued →

Red Weather just relased their brand new track titled “Start Again” and it’s quite simply the best thing to emerge from the independent emo/indie rock scene in 2023. THey have this certain classic 00’s emo sound but it rises far above the mundane with unique, soaring choruses and catchy songwriting. Reminds me a little of Midtown, Name Taken, Bayside, Armor for Sleep, The Classic Crime, Letter Kills, and Taking Back Sunday. Make sure to give it a listen below and get ready to get crazy with Red Weather in 2023.… Continued →

This early Christian metalcore band has roots in a few other musical endeavors. including (Inhale Exhale whom I saw live), Not Beneath (which did a Living Sacrifice cover) & Symphony in Peril. I did see Narcissus live also & this song is a rarity from them that came from the rerelease of Becoming Leviathan. They did play Furnace Fest 2021 & from what I gather might be releasing some new music at some point. Enjoy from the archives! … Continued →

This band mixed the sounds of doom versus indie rock. Band members ended up later working with bands The Emergency & Maps. Check the band out at Velvet Blue Records. Also check out Lloyds review of the band’s song Overload exclusively on this site.   … Continued →

If there was ever a band to perfectly represent the depths to where “Christian Music” can go in regards to talent, songwriting, and even with longevity, that band would be The Choir. The band themselves have been together in one form or another for nearly 4 decades now, and making creatively connecting music for almost the same amount of time. The band is still working on NEW music and just recently put their “Patreon Sessions” collection of recent songs up on all digital networks. There is also a brand new cover of The Psychedelic Furs classic – “Heaven”.… Continued →

Rock & Metal

• August Burns Red – Death Below
• Context – Indwelling EP
• Project 86 – OMNI, Pt. 1
• The Undertaking! – Superstitions EP

Pop & CCM

• Fulton Lee – Sonny Boy
• The Highway Flowers – Maybe We Should Try
• Owl City – Coco Moon
• Wilder Woods – Fever / Sky

Folk & Singer/Songwriter

• Sarah Sparks – Sleep: Songs for the Anxious EP

Hip Hop & R&B

• Azeekah – Sufficient Grace EP
• C4 Crotona – Hideous
• FOEVA – Friends & FOE
• Hyper Fenton – Deathly Hollow
• Jon Keith – EREMOS
• Kaden Jordan – HYOKRiTES
• Kmo – Purple Cloud Row
• Mr.

… Continued →

Rock & Metal

• Narnia – Ghost Town
• World Gone Cold – World Gone Cold

Folk & Singer/Songwriter

• Alli Rogers – Homesick

Hip Hop & R&B

• Big Lek – The Crushing
• BigGucciDame – Scars Hidden Within EP
• cconsciencee – BIG KID
• Konata Small, Disciple Theory – Built Different
• KRL – Bear With Me EP
• Larell, Gospel Hydration – When I Was in dark times EP
• The Prophet – Better EP
• Sadface Ethan – Lately, i’ve been on my own
• Sky – No Turning Back
• Young C – This Is For The Wait Too

Worship & Gospel

• Aaron Shust – Heaven + Earth
• Already Not Yet – 119
• Bethel Music – Come Up Here
• Calvary Music – Still Vol.

… Continued →

Thumper Punk Records signs new artist! Can you guess who?!

Elim Hall was ahead of their time in so many ways. It’s a real shame that they are just a blip on the radar screen of indie rock nowadays, as their preeminence is hard to over state. One of the earliest alternative rock bands to be signed to a major label in the CCM market, their only label release was snappy, melodic, memorable, and well-produced (somewhat surprisingly by Gary Chapman, along with veteran Jesus rocker Tim Marsh). This Canadian band wrote incredibly catchy, somewhat complex (for pop music) songs that were primarily in the power pop realm, but infused with touches of new wave and at times a punk-like urgency.… Continued →

A word document popped up in my Dropbox while I was searching for old files. It showed that the tentative line up for the “I’m Your Biggest Fan 2” compilation that I assembled for Tooth & Nail Records on March 11th 2002, 21 years ago. A couple bands had to be swapped for a couple reasons but the final lineup is pretty close to what I had planned out. I have created a little collage video with a couple song samples from the compilation through YouTube which you can view below.… Continued →

This techno industrial one man band released music in the early 90s. Delvin Cavalier (aka Dalvin on some sites) almost released his LP w/ Michael Knott’s Blonde Vinyl Records before the label folded. The good news is that the knottheads site is still up & running for us music investigators to review. I have spoken w/ Delvin a long time ago on social media, but I don’t believe he is doing anything in music recently. Enjoy this tune that appears to sample the film The War of the Worlds.… Continued →

Greg Minier, the talented guitarist from thrash metal legends – The Crucified, is back with his Applehead project and just dropped his first new song in nearly 3 decades titled “Down”. This is great stuff and brings to mind some classic 90’s hard rock music. Reminds me of Alice In Chains meets Velvet Revolver, Guns n’ Roses, STP, and Soundgarden. Even a little Mammoth WVH. Greg knows what he’s doing and this is definitely not amateurish like a few others out there. They are working on a brand new full length album that’ll be out later this year.… Continued →

Benjamin Daniel just released another NEW song, this one called “Charlize Theron (Death of a Diplomat)”. Check out the song below and let us know what you think. You can catch Benjamin Daniel at AudioFeed Festival 2023 (This summer). *Lyrics can also be found below.… Continued →

Letter Kills which were a emo-indie-pop-punk band from the early 00’s that dropped some independent songs, signed to Island Records, released a huge sounding record called “The Bridge”, played around the country for a few years then just disappeared as quickly as they appeared. Lead Vocalist Matt Shelton went on to record with The Wedding as well some great solo songs and recently formed “Panther City Riots“. As a band they were strong and their delivery was just as good as ANY other band at that time.… Continued →

I didn’t want this news post to slip through the cracks (my news roundup probably did just that). Too Bad Eugene just released their first ever music video and it’s for the song “Non Grata” off their most recent full length “Distance” which is out now! Check out the music video below. You can purchase the album on Vinyl/CD right here and trust me it’s totally WORTH IT!… Continued →

After browsing social media for a very important rock band that our scene has been blessed with, a legacy artist if you will, Stavesacre will return soon with new music (I hope). I think the band posting in studio pics is enough confirmation of new music, right? What is your favorite Stavesacre album/ep? SO MANY GOOD SONGS…28 years later… Continued →

Last October, Rockfest Records announced a new band on their roster, but not just any band. World Gone Cold is a hard rock band known as a “supergroup”. In case you’re unfamiliar with the term, this indicates that the group is comprised of artists from other well-known bands. The group is rounded out like this: Ryland Raus (vocals) of Inhale Exhale and Attack, AttackTraa Daniels (bass) of P.O.D.Tim “Yogi” Watts (drums) of Demon HunterMark Anthony (guitar) of The Letter BlackAndrew Stanton (guitar) of Disciple Nice, right??… Continued →

This power metal song is very catchy. Hailing from Brazil, they released 1 EP & 1 LP. Their vocalist Daniel Vasconcelos Pereira de Andrade can be found on YouTube covering such songs as Petra’s Beyond Belief also if you want to review. Just search Dan Vasc. It also appears he auditioned for Dragonforce’s vocalist in 2010. Enjoy   … Continued →

CPR317 have dropped a “Best Of” album that spans the punk band’s 2014-2020 years. The album boasts 17 tracks, 3 are brand new, while the rest are selections from the band’s previous releases, “Turn It Up”, “In the Business”, and “Live At Fuzion”. All tracks have been remastered and the release sounds great! A great album that fans of punk rock across the board will love, you can grab yourself a copy HERE.  … Continued →

Lauren Daigle is back with a brand new song titled “Thank God I Do” and new “Self Titled” album due out May 12th 2023. Check out a lyric video for the new song, below. This sounds oh so good. What do you think?… Continued →

Rock & Metal

• Bennett Hughes – Kick Ton
• Chase Tremaine – Accidental Days
• Sacrificium – Oblivion

Pop & CCM

• Nightbirde – It’s OK
• Zachary Ray – Unafraid

Folk & Singer/Songwriter

• Benjamin Torrens – I Love You, Light EP
• Ian Zumback – Abeline EP
• Schuyler Kitchin – solstice

Hip Hop & R&B

• adamariz – NEED 2 HOLD ON 2 THE TRUTH EP
• BigGucciDame – A Liars Perspective EP
• Celly Da Kidd – Into The Trenches EP
• Issac Mansfield – From A Boy To A Man, Vol. 1 EP

Worship & Gospel

• Anna Palfreeman – Certain
• Ascent Project – Come And See EP
• Courtney Raley – Union Vol.

… Continued →

Pete has been in the CCM music industry for years. Most know him from grunge band Grammatrain whose Lonely House LP is one of my fave. He also sang for The Accident Experiment which was a side project of Payable on Death’s Marcos when he temporarily left the band. Pete also worked with Mike Tait’s solo work. This SOTD comes from Pete’s first solo album which garnered several CCM radio airplay. He also served as the engineer/mixer for Mackelmore’s The Heist LP which had the annoying Thrift Store rap song.… Continued →

Happy March everyone! After a long absence I’m back and ready to throw down, well from my own office that is. I’ll rumble with this keyboard and toss a mouse through your screen. I’m the A.I. of your nightmares. Yes, creepy I know. Let’s get rolling with some great February music news for this new year of 2023. Oh and yes, my “Best of 2022 List” is indeed coming soon or something like that. *This has been assembled sporadically over the past month or two so some items might seem “dated” but that’s ok because more is on the way.… Continued →

I first heard of this LA punk band when I was running distro in the early 2000s. They had an EP out on The Legion (short-lived label that only released 3 titles), which I began stocking, and then they put out another release on the upcoming Clumsy Records (also home to Combat Junkies, The Stivs and a few others). I had the chance to catch them live at Cornerstone 2002, which was a fantastic show! In fact, that year was a great year for punk at the festival, as I also saw Huntingtons, The Remnants, One Bad Pig, World Against World, and Headnoise that year among others.… Continued →

This cool band has appeared on a few compilations & have released a couple LPS since 1998. Appears they changed their name recently. Their style of music tends to lean to the gothic/folk genres, but they are all over the place reaching from extreme metal to prog rock. Just listen to their drum rolls & cello in their discography. Czterdziesta Doba is the Polish name of this song btw. … Continued →