Mono Vs. Stereo has been the talk of the town, or rather the Christian music industry, for quite some time. With the release of the The Revolution Will Begin in the Blink of an Eye sampler, and the promise of some of the bands found on it, there appeared to be nothing but a bright future for the young independent label. And in September, the first band to sign to Mono Vs. Stereo released the first full-length album on the label.

The Evan Anthem fuses their own mix of emo with an eccentric rock sound that can truly be called their own. There is no lack of originality on their debut Prologue. The vocals are also truly unique with a good portion of them come out as chants. Though Prologue is original enough to keep those tired of the "same old, same old" interested, I can't really see too many others getting into this music. In fact, it's main point of expertise may be it's only drawback. Casual listeners will take a couple of listens to this new brand of emo/rock and perhaps feel a sort of repetition. While Evan Anthem's sound is much different from today's norm, it doesn't delve much past it's own surface.

It's ironic that the album is titled Prologue, as this is the beginning, the opening if you will, of what should be an incredible story. It will be wonderful to see where The Evan Anthem can go with this new sound they seem to have concocted. The average listener may want to skip it, but if you are searching for something completely different and refreshing, The Evan Anthem's Prologue is just a glimpse of incredible things to come.

- Review date: 02/01/04, written by Josh Taylor