With hard-hitting lyrics that cut to the heart and music that rocks your face off, it's a wonder that Still Remains isn't more popular than they are today. Ever since I saw the video for "The Worst is Yet To Come" on TVU, these guys have been one of my top favorite bands. Now that I have their album, their music is always stuck in my head and I have rocked with these guys all night!

From the brief drum intro to "To Live and Die by Fire," you know you are in for a killer of an album. The whole meaning behind this song is about being on fire for God. As soon as the song begins, you can easily tell that they have matured a lot since If Love Was Born to Die. Everything seems crisper and harder. One of my favorite songs, "The Worst is Yet to Come," is about the tragedies of the end times. This is a lot like As I Lay Dying's "Darkest Nights" lyrically. The next track, "In Place of Hope," starts off with a brief drum solo, similar to the one on "To Live and Die...", before getting into the screams of, "Farewell..." It also has a cool pulsating/fading effect given to a long scream. The ferocious "White Walls" is about reaching out to the lost generation in the world. They scream, "Saying the words we mean to no one... it's the best way to kill the adolescent..." It's a good reminder of 'how will they know the love of Christ if we never tell them?' This song has a very cool part in it where the screams fade out into a piano with double bass and guitars blazing over them. It sounds awesome, and is similar to the beginning of Haste the Day's new single "Chorus of Angels."

The brutal "Bliss" is a desperate cry to God. They scream, "We are desperate for guidance, we are looking for your direction." Later, they scream, "Your voice like a shotgun ringin' out, with no objection." An allusion to God's strong, powerful voice, perhaps? The throat-shredding screams on this track are amazing - as is the double bass towards the end. The drum-led "Cherished" is a catchy song about us "being only human," and has a cry, "waiting for something more. More, more, more, of you." The whole meaning is a cry for more of God to fill us because we're only human and imperfect. "With Everything You Have" is a piano instrumental filler. "Kelsey" is all about breaking away from addiction, and learning from other's mistakes. It refers the the Bible as a weapon, screaming, "Point this weapon, straight at my head. Make sure you pull the trigger, and I'll soak it all in." My favorite song on the album, "Blossom, the Witch," starts out out very slow with a techno influence before getting into more double bass heavy material. It's a powerful song about porn, "put[ting] an end to existence; she's put an end to us all." It's about how it is the downfall of some men, and the need to resist it. This is one of their most growling-intensive songs, and at the end for about a minute and a half, it gets rather chaotic. The track has it all - double bass, singing, screaming, growling, all at once, with squealing, pulsating guitars, and screaming time changes when the musical time stays the same. Simply amazing.

After listening to Still Remains' Of Love and Lunacy for the first time, I have to honestly say, I was impressed, but not THAT impressed. Yeah, it was a good album and all, but they could've experimented with more sounds a little more, and use more originality. Uniqueness. But, Still Remains adds just enough uniqueness between tracks to keep the listener's attention fixed for a while. And beware - some of the rhythms, beats, and lyrics, will stick in your head for a while. This a tremedous work that should NOT be passed up by any metalhead!