Author: Loyd Harp

One of the longest-running indie/alternative bands in the Christian scene, The Choir emerged in the 1980s initially as Youth Choir, shortening the name after the release of one album and one EP. The band formed in 1983 and were instrumental in the early 80s Calvary Chapel scene in Southern California, that also included stalwarts like Undercover, Altar Boys, and 4-4-1. Where some of their counterparts flirted with punk and harder alternative sounds, The Choir’s sound rarely ‘rocked’ so much as it created atmospheres and layers that have never been easily pigeonholed into any particular scene or sound and yet have toyed with dream pop, indie pop, and at times even shoegaze.… Continued →

First things first: I must apologize for missing a couple of weeks on my Song of the Day features. We’ve been in the middle of an international move. Yes, after 13 years of life in the UK, my family and I have returned to the United States! And we’ve been living out of suitcases while we finalize our housing. So do please forgive me for missing a few posts. However, I hope a new song from Starflyer 59 this week can make up for it. The first thing I noticed from the track was the eerie new wave keyboard sounds and quasi-goth guitar leads.… Continued →

The amazing thing about “Martha” from Bloodshed’s 1995 self-titled EP isn’t just how complex it is. Yes, it hits that sweet spot, distinctive of top-notch emo-core where the perfect balance of harsh and soft, noisy and melodic come together. It’s also not how mature the lyrics are. They’re inspired by a poem written by a young girl (the song’s namesake) during World War 2. It’s also not how proficient on the instruments the members were. The track features complex, angular riffing that wasn’t all that common in mid-90s hardcore, a mixture of clean singing and hardcore screaming.… Continued →

It’s amazing how one can listen to music for years, decades even, and still find an obscure gem from days gone past that was missed out. Vancouver’s Cannon Heath Down only released one album: 1987’s Heart-Throb Companion (and a cassette demo 2 years later). The self-produced album was only released on LP, and its stellar take on indie pop will appeal to fans of The Ocean Blue, Morrissey, Game Theory, Riverside, The Mighty Lemon Drops, etc. The album fetches top dollar too, as I’ve seen copies listed at triple digits.… Continued →

Arizona’s No Laughing Matter were kind of a ‘love ’em or hate ’em’ kind of game. Dark and broody, they didn’t fit in with most CCM at the time. Heck, even the alternative stuff wasn’t quite this dark, for the most part. Scott Roman’s dramatic wail was an acquired taste. The guitars alternated between goth-rock and the occasional nod to funk (see “Helltown”). Of particular interest were the deep bass grooves. They were one of Christian music’s very few, true “post-punk” bands in the proper sense of the term.… Continued →

Code of Ethics hit on the Christian music scene in 1991 with their brilliant debut Visual Paradox for R.E.X. Music (later re-issued on Forefront), having already released an independent cassette demo a year prior. The album was a synth-pop triumph, taking the best of techno-pop and alternative dance and fusing them into a singular whole that was as danceable as Information Society, but as catchy as Pet Shop Boys or Erasure. I once had a chance to catch the band live, opening for The Prayer Chain.… Continued →

Veil of Ashes was a college rock band from Oakland, California, who debuted with the critically-acclaimed album Pain on Graceland Records (an imprint of Frontline) in 1989. While they had started out as a post-punk outfit with goth leanings, most of that influence had faded by the time their debut hit. A second album The Young and the Reckless: The Regression of Veil of Ashes was released on Blonde Vinyl in 1992, but it was actually a retrospective release of earlier demos. That same year the band shortened their name to Veil and released their final studio album (before taking a long hiatus and re-forming in the late 90s) Mr.… Continued →

I’ve got a confession to make. I don’t know a lot about electronica. As much as I love genre-fying musical artists and trying to pinpoint them within their style or scene, I just can’t get my heard around the hundreds of subgenres of electronic dance music. I was never one for going to nightclubs (where the genres and all its cognates developed), and the scene is just too huge to know thoroughly without being immersed in it. However, I do know what I like, and occasionally an artist or album comes along that just sounds good.… Continued →

If you turn the Christian indie shaker upside down, not too many psychobilly bands fall out. One of the first and best was The Calicoes, from Texas. They released one fantastic EP called Rumble (the title a contextualized reference to the battle between good and evil), and a full-length named Custom Acceleration. For my money, the EP is the better release song for song. It’s more primitive and raw, which suits the style better in my view. You can’t go wrong with any of those 6 songs, but check out track 5, “Read.”… Continued →

In the mid- to late-90s when all of the other Christian hardcore bands were doing new school/chugga chugga style hardcore with increasingly metallic influences, Bakersfield’s Chasm were drawing on earlier inspiration. These influences came mostly from the 80s British hardcore punk/d-beat sound (Discharge, Conflict, etc.), although somewhat ironically this track has elements of early black metal in the guitar riffs (a la Venom or Bathory). Nonetheless it’s still filtered through a hardcore punk sound. The band released one 7″ (Squander, Squander the Bright New Dawn) and one full-length (Gye Nyame, from whence our featured song is taken).… Continued →

Is it a bit pompous to call your band “God”? Maybe. But what’s particularly interesting about this band is we know nothing about them. Band members are completely anonymous. Is it even a band, or a solo project? Where are they from? No idea. Because the project is completely designed to “Challenge you to consider Him as well as your life & death through the power of music,” they figured the best way to do that was anonymously. And you know what? I can respect that.… Continued →

While Gospel music to most probably represents tradition and preservation, there is also a strong undercurrent of experimentation and the avant garde. Among faith-filled artists are John Coltrane’s divinely-inspired free jazz, classical composers pushing the envelope of what music should be (Bach, for instance), heck even the first rock and roller (arguably) was essentially a Gospel singer/guitarist who just cranked things up a little louder. I mean, of course, Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Add to the list Orlando Greenhill. Greenhill is probably most known for his upright bass playing in Havalina Rail Co.… Continued →

Wow, what a great band, with such potential! Sadly, Beloved released only one EP (originally for Vindicated from the Deep Water and later re-issued by Solid State) and one full length. That first EP rocked my world. I got to see the band live 2 or 3 times in this era and they were rapidly becoming my favourite emo-core band. They had a truly unique take on the genre fusing melodic indie rock with emotional emo and brutal hardcore, all in one go! It was really refreshing.… Continued →

Depending on how you define the term, Resurrection Band was arguably the first Christian heavy metal band. While their debut album was released in 1978, their earliest demo recordings date back to as early as 1973. While many fans and critics will argue, “they’re not heavy metal, just hard rock,” this outlook unfortunately judges the past by current standards. Metal has moved on and splintered into a hundred different and more extreme subgenres. However, in the 1970s, their brand of bluesy hard rock would definitely have been considered heavy metal at the time–just as bands like Van Halen, Aerosmith, Kiss and others were.… Continued →

4•4•1 burst onto the SoCal new wave scene in 1984, releasing their debut album on Royal Commandment Records (soon to be re-named Blue Collar Records). The band formed in 1983 in Los Angeles County, diligently rehearsing in the garage of bassist/keyboardist Glenn Holland’s parents. They recorded a 4-song demo and subsequently sent out copies to area youth pastors. The unconventional move proved successful as they caught the attention of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, a large church that hosted lots of concerts for Christian new wave and early alternative bands.… Continued →

Welcome to what is probably the most underrated album in Christian alternative music history. The problem is largely that it just wasn’t heard by enough people. This Pennsylvania band comprised one third of the ‘holy trinity’ of Christian jangle pop, rounded out by Virginia’s The Throes and Minnesota’s The Swoon (coincidentally all band names beginning with the definite article). They released their one and only album, not counting their independent demo cassettes, through Talkingtown (also home of metal band Armageddon) and co-released through R.E.X. Indianland is a real slow-burner of an album.… Continued →

Long before Scott Stapp was crooning about going higher and breaking out of his own prison, there was this Creed, a traditional heavy metal band from Germany. The band released only one full-length album through Pias Music in Europe (and Pure Metal in North America), after releasing an obscure EP. The band played an intensely melodic brand of heavy metal without ever crossing into glam. And although a couple of the tracks approached breakneck speeds, they weren’t speed metal either. This style of metal was prominent in continental Europe at the time, but never garnered a major audience in the United States beyond the mid 80s.… Continued →

Swedish death metallers Pantokrator have released a new video for “We the People.” The song is presumably the lead single from their brand new album Marching out of Babylon, which released just a few weeks ago through Nordic Mission.… Continued →

I’m really hesitant to do this, but I’m gonna lay it on you. I’ve been a fan of music for well over 40 years. Narrowing down a favorite anything is really difficult. My list of favorite songs probably numbers near 1,000, and that’s just favorites, not all the songs I ‘just like.’ But, most days, if you ask me my favorite song of all time, it’s this one. The Seventy Sevens have had an extremely long career, with roots going as back as the late 70s/early 80s in a Sacramento church-based band called the Scratch Band.… Continued →

The funk-punk and funk-metal scene(s) rose quickly in the early 90s and then disappeared just as quickly. At one point, it was looking to be the next big thing, but as a genre it never dominated alternative rock as it once looked like it would. In fact, aside from Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jane’s Addiction, few in the general market ever made it big, even though bands like Fishbone and 24-7 Spyz were just as talented. However, the fusion/hybrid genre did help pave the way for other crossover genres to gain steam, particularly third wave ska (with its derivatives ska-punk and ska-core), rap-core, and industrial metal.… Continued →

Industrial music has a long and complicated history, which we don’t have time to get deeply into here. Its roots lie in avant garde experimentalism of the 1970s, its name coming from literal industrial sounds as its inspiration. As the genre developed, it became intertwined with other styles–most notably dance music and techno, or at the other end of the spectrum heavy metal, and occasionally even hip-hop. For the longest time, Blackhouse (featured here) was the only industrial band exploring Christian themes, but all of their albums were released as imports and mostly on secular and/or independent labels.… Continued →

Punk rock developed somewhere in the 1970s when what had essentially been garage rock bands got louder, snarlier, and started playing shorter, faster songs. While critics argue about the official beginning of the genre (is proto-punk still punk?), it was fully fledged in the late 70s, and had already started giving way to what would become two new genres. New Wave was the poppier extension of punk (that would further develop into synth-pop and electronica). Post-punk was the darker, more introspective branch that would eventually give birth to goth and alternative rock.… Continued →

Remember when hardcore was still exciting? Fast loud rules! While hardcore can still be interesting, I find the monotony of some in the genre to be irritating. Here’s the formula: melodic leads, heavy use of breakdowns, some clean singing somewhere, and just enough tempo changes to give the appearance of being innovative. Okay, I’ll stop. I sound as old and jaded as I actually am. I still love the heavy music scene, and hardcore in particular. I just hate the fact that it’s getting harder and harder to tell the bands apart from one another (especially metalcore and deathcore).… Continued →

Glam metal gets a bad rap. Especially in punk/indie/hardcore circles. Except for the occasional semi-ironic nod to the genre, it doesn’t get much love outside of 40- and 50-something dads who like to show off old photos of their teenage mullets. Whether the cheesyness or the sleaziness is to blame, folks seem to have a love-hate relationship with it. Occasionally, however, there are some real gems. Rage of Angels released one fantastic album in 1989 through Regency Records. Shortly thereafter, the Connecticut-based band split up, leaving 2 members to join the newly-formed mainstream pop metal outfit Steelheart, who had huge radio hits with “She’s Gone” and “I’ll Never Let You Go.”… Continued →

So, it’s New Year’s Day. 2020 is a recently faded memory, but with the obvious enduring repercussions. Do you make New Year’s resolutions? Or affirmations, or commitments, or whatever else people are calling them nowadays? My wife (who is an artist) loves the New Year holiday. She sees it as a blank slate. A new chance to start over. Erase all the marks from the chalkboard (remember those?) or the whiteboard, or your Zoom screen and go again, taking all you’ve learned to try and do it better next time.… Continued →

First things first–merry Christmas everyone! It’s been a challenging year, and many of us are ready to see the back of it. I always post my Song of the Day picks on Friday, so I was pleased to the lucky draw for Christmas Day! Of course, it had to be a Christmas song, and there are lots of good ones to choose from, even from our niche scene. For those unfamiliar with Adam Again, they have deep roots in the Christian music scene. They started out in the California scene of the 1980s through Broken Records and later Brainstorm Artists.… Continued →

The year was 1990. I’d heard lots of buzz about this new “goth rock” band Dead Artist Syndrome. Even Roger Martinez from Vengeance Rising had been sporting their t-shirt at gigs. For those who don’t know, DAS was the first goth band to release an album on a Christian label. While being the first is always a good thing, it wasn’t the fact that they were an early representative of the subgenre that made them interesting. It was that they were so darn good at it.… Continued →

There are so many different types of Living Sacrifice fans. People who started listening from the beginning, and those who joined somewhere along the way. Fans who praise their experimental phase, those who prefer the -core era, and those who swear by the traditional metal era. Heck, I even know one guy who claims they only released one album (he’s a thrash fan), and all the others were recorded by imposters! The band has certainly seen a number of different phases, most easily broken down into two main categories (metal and -core) with a few other splinters.… Continued →

Don’t you hate it when an amazing band releases one stellar album and then disappears off the map leaving virtually no trace whatsoever? That’s more or less what happened to Minnesota’s The Swoon. This intelligent, artsy, literate (one of the band’s song titles is a Dante reference) band made up one third of Christian jangle-pop’s ‘holy trinity’ (also including The Throes and The Walk). Their debut album was released on Narrowpath Records, in conjunction with Refuge (the obscure indie label also released such classics as debuts by Breakfast with Amy and The Crucified), and was made up of two earlier cassette-only demos, ben son, ben son Beatrice and Neverland, the latter of which was produced by Charlie Peacock.… Continued →

Underground hip-hop leaders Illect Recordings (home of Sivion, Terem, James Gardin and many others) are running holiday sales currently on physical merch (12″ Vinyl, 7″ Vinyl, CDs, Cassette Tapes & more). A few new items are included in addition to a couple re-stocks. There are also pre-orders, from tomorrow, for the Sivion x DertBeats Vinyl LP. Stock is expected to arrive in a few weeks from Europe. The official release date will be 6-8 weeks later but fans who pre-order the vinyl will be the first to have it.… Continued →