Artist: Berea
Album: Empty Vessels (ep)
Label: None
Reviewer: Tyler Hess
With a name like Berea (which one can only assume was taken from the Bereans mentioned in Acts, known for being faithful to checking Paul and Silas’ message against Scripture to make sure the gospel was true) and lyrics that make the writer sound like he’d just been through a semester or two at a seminary or Bible college (I’ve been there, this is from experience, not a knock or a diss), you’d expect maybe some Contemporary Christian Music or some nice acoustic congregational worship music. Instead we are presented with the anthemic indie prog-rock reminiscent of My Epic or Cool Hand Luke that we get with their 7 track EP, Empty Vessels.
There are times on this EP that the songs seem a little bit forced, or perhaps like they were jamming while making the record, thinking “hey let’s throw in some random percussion or synth in here because it might sound cool”, but other times its just as easy to think “this is downright beautiful what they just did there”. What it comes down to is if you like to see a lot of crazy experimentation on an album, or the same ole pop rock. Either way can be a win for me, I just think that with this type of music it takes a bit more time to really grow into a cohesive unit with so many different possibilities before you. These guys really do show quite a bit of potential, they just need to clean up a few things to get there, but I think they can do it. If you like music that shows the willingness to try a lot of different things and writes as if they’d just got done reading the Bible, then check ‘em out.
Track List:
- Mirrors To Windows
- Unloving
- Not of This World
- Intermission: Accomplished
- Sound of Silence
- Empty Vessels
- The Truth
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