Jon Guerra returns with album number five and his thoughts squarely on the life and teachings of Jesus. Titling the record after the world-changing rabbi left me wondering just what he had in store this time around. What springs to my mind about Jesus after reading the gospels are descriptors like: unassuming, meek, gentle, playful, peaceable, yielded, and long-suffering. Coincidently, those prove apt words to describe the sonic approach Guerra takes to share his musings across these twelve new tunes. This is likely an intentional choice. If you know Jon's work, especially his last two excellent albums, you know what to expect, but to the uninitiated, get ready for an album of chamber pop-edged songs that will slowly work their way into your consciousness...

Coming out of the 2000s, an all-too-familiar occurrence among heavy bands associated with the Christian metal/hard rock scene was for once devout groups to slowly fade into the mainstream or to reject affiliation with Christianity altogether. Memphis May Fire are one of the few counter examples, a massively successful metalcore band who, especially from 2014's Unconditional onward, have been openly celebrating the connection between the beliefs of various members and their musical output.

While their subsequent 2016 (This Light I Hold) and 2018 (Broken) releases maintained this personal and spiritual vulnerability and courage, they also tended to be regarded as musical compromises into the realm of radio accessibility at the sake of their original southern influenced metalcore stylings...

Disciple has remained fresh over a 30+ year career by constantly tinkering with their brand of southern-tinged rock and metal, sometimes with subtle refinements and others with bold experimentations. "Resurrecting Reasons (feat. TJ Harris of Decyfer Down)" falls into the former category. Musically, little has changed from the original version of the track released on 2023's Skeleton Psalms, while Decyfer...

For most people, change isn't easy. And for music fans, it can be the hardest pill to swallow. Anberlin fans saw the band end in 2014 when they released their farewell studio album, Lowborn, on Tooth & Nail Records. However, just before a global pandemic halted just about everything, the band reunited in 2019 and soon started playing through all of their albums on livestreams, recording each one and releasing them digitally and on vinyl. It was also in the midst of this that fans heard the news of brand new music coming from the band, and 2022 and 2023 saw the release of two new studio EP's. Last year, those EPs came together to form a full-length release titled Vega, which the band also used to transition original vocalist Stephen Christian out of the band, welcoming in his replacement Matty Mullins of Memphis May Fire...