When it comes to the most notable names in Christian music today, one would struggle to keep 23-year-old Josiah Queen's name out of the conversation. Despite releasing his independent debut album just over two years ago, he has already racked up over 2.1 billion streams to date, and earlier this month, he took home the GMA Dove Awards Song of the Year for "Dusty Bibles" -- the first non-worship song to win the award since Lauren Daigle's "You Say" back in 2019. Barely a year has passed since he released his successful sophomore record, Mt. Zion, but Queen is back with 14 new songs in the form of Damascus Road.

Sometimes I come across a painting, picture, or other piece of art and immediately know that whoever made it possesses a special artistry from the depth, intricacy, and beauty I see in their work. When I first listened to The Fragile Beauty (Of New Morning Hopes), I had this very realization about Alex Henry Foster. Despite being in the music world for some time, this project celebrates a special milestone for the native Canadian; it marks his first solo album after a season where he struggled to walk, write, and even talk following open heart surgery. Thankfully, Foster's health is in a much better spot, and to say that he has returned to form musically may come as an understatement...

Did you know that Skillet has never released an EP before? Sure, if you want to get technical, they've released a few extended singles and a few EP-length collections of remixes, but 2026's After the Storm represents the band's very first foray into releasing brand new music in the EP format. This move also sees the band returning with new music relatively quickly; the band has spent the past 25 years dependably releasing a new album every three-ish years, whereas After the Storm arrives less than two years after the band's first fully independent album, 2024's Revolution. In some ways, this EP feels like a very wise act of course-correction for the 30-year-old band, since Revolution was widely considered to be one of the band's worst projects. (Revolution has its strengths and its highlights, to be sure, but it was doomed from the start when the album's worst song was released as its lead single; like it or not, it was not a confident first step into the band's independent era.) Simultaneously, crafting a short, concise EP would seem like another sharp decision by the band, since even the best of their recent albums (such as Victorious and Dominion) suffer from being front-loaded while feeling bloated in the back half. By all accounts, After the Storm successfully accomplishes these goals, proving that indie Skillet can make music that sounds just as good, and hits just as hard, as the greatest hits from their Atlantic Records tenure...

Oftentimes, an artist develops a certain sound or style as they progress into their career, and that is how they come to be known. While Mat Kearney certainly has some trademark characteristics, it's probably safe to say that, throughout his career, each of Kearney's now eight main LPs each carry their own unique, distinct feel. In other words, he never has made the same album twice, and that is something few musicians who have been in the business as long as he has are able to say. While beautiful, it also means that sometimes it may take a few listens to adjust to what Kearney is doing on a release. Hanging by a Heartstring is not nearly the left turn that a project like the electronic CRAZYTALK was when it came out, but the style does shift slightly, enough for the longtime audience to see that this album, too, will vary from his previous seven...