It's hard to believe that creative mad man / worship leader David Crowder is heading into his fourth decade in music. (His first few independent releases go as far back as the mid-to-late 1990's.) He is now one of Christian music's elder statesmen (or more like your beloved, wacky uncle) and always a welcome voice when he returns with a new batch of tunes, whether it was in his "*Band" days, or in his most recent incarnation as the artist simply known as "Crowder".

His Crowder albums have been a bit more straightforward in their musical approach than the David Crowder*Band, but they are no less fun, inspirational or foot-stomping. And his latest, the wonderfully titled Milk & Honey, is a welcome return from this hirsute worship leader....

Last year forced musical artists to scramble to supplement incomes that the Covid pandemic took from them. For some, it meant finding "normal" jobs. For folks like Jason Wisdom, it simply meant making more music. He started taking pre-orders for two brand new Death Therapy EPs, the first of which, Dance Therapy, came last summer. The second of which, though, has grown into the band's official third album, which is being released courtesy of Tooth & Nail Records...

The weight of following up widely successful and critically acclaimed albums like Blurryface and Trench could have paralyzed a lesser band, but eclectic-pop duo Twenty One Pilots is up to the task. Further leaning into their defiance of convention, they completely sidestep the expectations with their newest full-length album, the curiously titled Scaled and Icy. Instead of a deeper dive into the dense and thematically heavy storyline of Dema, Clancy, and the Bishops, Tyler and Josh choose to create an album geared toward the upbeat pop sheen of many of their contemporaries. In some ways, this is natural with Josh getting married and Tyler and his wife Jenna having a baby since the release of Trench. They both seem to be in a much happier place despite a worldwide pandemic. But are these songs a little too perfect, and should we trust them? This reviewer is getting some weird WandaVision vibes and a sinking feeling that not all is quite as it seems...