Talk about change. The Insyderz have changed a lot over the past year or so. Their new album Skalleluia Too doesn't sound like Fight of My Life or Skalleluia at all. In fact it seems that they've leaned toward the Rock side of music with not as much ska as we're used to. The CD opens with "Peace of God" which is a real rocker with a real fast beat. It sounds like your average ska song. "When I Look Up" opens up with some horns and then the guitar kicks in. When you think the horns will come in, they don't. At least, not until near the end. The remake of "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever" by Delirious has a piano playing in the beginning which they've never done before. The song really picks up during the chorus though to make it a real nice praise-worship song and ends with the piano and broken glass in the background.
"Shout to the Lord" starts out with a little piano, but a mean drum beat. I love this song to begin with and is my favorite on the album. The guitar kicks in near the end of the first verse. Even though this song isn't very typical of the Insyderz it has the more worshipful feel in it and picks up something real nice midway through. I love the drum beat in this song. It's one of the best drums I've ever heard. "Who is This?" at the beginning sounds like an oldie but a goody. It has a real nice soothing cello in it. After the first verse the other instruments kick in except the horns. The only horn is Bram's trumpet during the bridge. Despite the lack of horns I think it's a beautiful song. It's one of my favorites. "True of You" sounds a lot like something that would of been off of Fight of My Life. I really like the bassline throughout the song and the horns are real smooth. Joe Yerke doesn't growl that much during the album, but he gets loud during this song. It's a real dark song, but they still manage to keep that P&W feel in it.
"All That I Am" has a more punk feel to it with some added horn section in it occassionally. Joe's voice does a little growl in it. The biggest surprise on the album, "Old Rugged Cross," is a song that I've only listened to once because it was sent to the butcher. Sang Kim sings lead. There isn't really anything about this song that I like. There is a clarinet in the song that throws it off. I don't really like Sang's voice. I think that this song was going out to Sang Kim's father who passed away this past year. "In the Secret" sounds like your average punk/ska song. I really like the guitar in this song. It really doesn't stop at all, which is cool. I like the worship feel to this song. Near the end the cello kicks in. It sounds like the part on "Awesome God" off Skalleluia and ends real rocky. This is probably my second favorite song.
"Psalm 121" has a conga playing in it through the song. Nate changed from the drums to the percussion on this one. It has a real reggae feel to it. I think they got the idea from the Supertones when they were on tour last year. "Psalms 139" they wrote themselves. Nate Sjogren sings lead and Joe sings backup. I like the opening because it sounds like the Supertones, but I don't care for the vocals. "The Steadfast Love" has a lounge feel to it, but the bass is nice. This song is very, very mellow. If John Jonethis wanted to do a remake on this one he'd have his work cut out for him. "Step by Step" sounds like something straight from a churches Praise and Worship team with nothing special. The CD ends with "Pour Out My Heart" which is a real nice slow song that I think would be good to end a concert with. Everyone sings background on this and it sounds like a mini-choir.
Overall the CD is a good rock/ska/punk album. It's not as good as the first Skalleluia album. I think they wanted a more toned down praise and worship CD with a P&W feel to it and they did. It has a lot of my favorites on it. There are some adjustments to it. Joe's voice sounds more mature and, musically, they've all matured. I would suggest it because of the general feel to it and even if you're a hardcore ska fan you'd like it because when it's straight-up ska it's good. If you don't like ska at all you'd like it because it's not as hard as some of their previous stuff.
- Review date: 12/4/99, written by Kevin Chamberlin
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