SELECTIVE HEARING
[ NEW RELEASES | Robert Berman ]
ONE BAD PIG
Love You to Death
From 1986 to 1991, One
Bad Pig did their best
to show the world that
Christian punk could be fun
and evangelistic at the same time. Returning
with a new studio album after 25 years, not
much has changed. They rip through fifteen
high-energy songs in 45 minutes; no ballads
here. No ringers either; Dann Huff and Phil
music, this Floridian trio’s third project features
“I’m undefeated,” and “We walk as lions,” and
airy electronica with God-directed lyrics. The
“We are kings and conquerors,” and “You can’t
best songs, like the driving “The Beginning,”
resist us.” The braggadocio is a bit much all at
add phased guitar and drums to produce a
once, but in small doses, it’s fist-pumping fun
sound resembling Of Monsters and Men. The
to augment your free weights routine or Call of
mellower songs take one dip too many in
Duty session.
Hillsong United’s “Oceans,” regularly dropping
back under a repetitive vocal chant. Focusing
on the more upbeat selections, a great modern
to cover biblical themes including speaking in
tongues, martyrdom ancient and modern, and
of Christian music, a speedy (of course) cover of
The 77’s classic “The Lust, the Flesh, the Eyes,
and the Pride of Life” appears. The guitars still
roar out power chords, the vocals still scream,
the pig is as bad as ever, and that’s good.
THE QUIET SCIENCE
The Rekindling of the Stars
“He took our debts, nailed
them in his hands and feet.”
Falling somewhere between
Churches’ music and church
Roe (of The 77s, usually) first
teamed in 2011 as Kerosene
The last ten years have been
mainly cover songs of the likes of Tom Waits
hard times for hard music.
and Leonard Cohen. This double-barreled
Radio
barely
remembers
sequel includes one album (House on Fire) of
new songs by friends like Phil Madeira and
verb and even ballads had guitar solos. Yet