Concert Review: Disciple with Kronicles and The Great Transparency
On Saturday night, I went to see Disciple along with Kronicles and The Great Transparency in concert at the 7:30 club in Mechanicsville Maryland. I have been a fan of Disciple for a long time now, and have recently become familiar with the 2 opening bands and I have featured both on the radio show in recent weeks.
The 7:30 club is a really cool place. It appears to be the original building for the Immaculate Conception Church, and is now used as a multi purpose room for various activities as I noticed banners on the walls for Scouts and the Knights Of Columbus. It is a really good size room for concerts and the sound is pretty good. I grew up not far from there and really wish I would have had a place like this when I was growing up. But I digress, now to the concert review.
The first band up was The Great Transparency from Columbus Ohio. Sometimes when you hear a single song or two from a record you think you have a pretty good feel for the band. I was wrong in this case, because as good as they sound on record, the band came alive on stage. The rhythm section was tight and precise and the guitars filled out the sound nicely. They played music from their new EP If Worse Comes To Worst including the current radio hits "Run For It" and "Don't You Ever". The Great Transparency rocks and you should snag the cd now while its on sale.
While the bands changed gear, Kevin from Disciple came onstage and talked about Compassion International and mentioned how he selected his child, meeting his sponsored child in Indonesia, and how the letters and pictures sponsors send impact the children and their families.
Next up was Kronicles from New Jersey. Kronicles was definitely a harder sounding band, but the guitarist was incredible. Sometimes when a band has only 1 guitarist, the sound isn't as full. That is not the case with Kronicles. He has a really full sounding crunchy guitar sound that reminds you of Skillet. They played alot of music from their debut CD Reset. I am not a fan of screaming, but Kronicles mixes it in subtly into their songs. Overall, it was a good high energy rock and roll set.
After a lengthy set change, Disciple took the stage by storm and really brought the rock. They launched into Whispering So Loud from their latest CD Southern Hospitality. They played alot of their big hits including Regime Change, The Wait Is Over, 321 and After The World. Having seen Disciple a couple of times before on bigger stages, it was cool to see them in a smaller room and the band really seemed to feed off of the relatively small but energetic crowd. Everyone had a great night of rock and worship for THE ROCK. I know that I am looking forward to the next show at the 7:30 club.
Music Review: Jeremy Camp Live
Some of my favorite records have always been live records. Sometimes it was because a live record would be the closest I could come to see an artist perform. Other times, the album would be a snapshot in time, an everlasting reminder of a night captured with an artist.
Jeremy Camp Live, his sixth offering on BEC Records captures concert experiences from his recently concluded year-long tour in support of the Speaking Louder Than Before CD.
The record features many of his hits including “Tonight”, “Let It Fade”, and “Take You Back” along with newer songs like “Speaking Louder Than Before” and “Give Me Jesus”
One thing about a Jeremy Camp performance is that it is a worship experience. After a touching performance of “Walk By Faith”, he adds a beautiful chorus of Hallelujah adding a spiritual depth to the moment.
With the proliferation of live worship records flooding the market these days, the most important aspect never makes it to the record, the sharing of the Gospel, that is where this record is different. Jeremy shared an intimate talk about what was on his heart about being distracted in this generation, and that we are in need of a Saviour to deliver us from building up our own kingdoms. Instead, we should be serving other and building up God’s kingdom. He also used his song “Speaking Louder Than Before” as a challenge to live boldly for God.
The production, while very sound throughout is superb, and in some ways it was hard to tell that you were listening to a live album. While that is not necessarily a bad thing, it did sound a bit awkward when he was trying to engage the crowd, it was difficult to feel that energy.
Overall, this record will put you in the front row of the Jeremy Camp concert experience and will appeal to fans and is also the perfect records to introduce Jeremy’s music to new fans this Christmas season.
CD Review: Kutless – It Is Well
Driven by a calling to do something different from and to build upon their other projects, Kutless also wanted to put out a record that reflected where they are as a band and more importantly, a project that reflects their hearts. The Portland Oregon based Rock/Worship band is back with It Is Well, their 6th studio cd on BEC Records. In 2005, the band released the worship cd, Strong Tower which offered a blend of traditional hymns, mixed with modern praise songs and originals.
Can the band capture some of the Gold record success from the Strong Tower cd? Could the band answer the challenge of taking a hymn written in the 1800’s and make it a Kutless song without changing the worshipful adoration from within? The answer is a resounding yes.
Being a band that has built a solid reputation as a high energy rock band, worship has always been at the core of Kutless and that really comes out in this record. It starts with a mix of building sound effects mixed with some electronica to invite you into a time of worship with the band with “It Is Well”. The disc also features several modern praise and worship songs including the Chris Tomlin favorite “Give Us Clean Hands” and perennial favorite “God Of Wonders” and also the rock oriented “You Save Me” will please the die hard Kutless rock fan.
Where Kutless really makes a difference with this disc is the original offerings, from the first radio single “What Faith Can Do” which encourages the listener that God’s power is real and engages the listener to worship with them. “I’m Still Yours” is a beautifully written song of adoration which features acoustic guitars and string arrangements mixed with powerful melodies which could very well emerge as a corporate worship favorite.
As contemporary worship music has evolved over the last couple of years, there is now a plethora of new worship oriented bands bringing pop infused music mixed , or others that just take classic hymns and modern praise songs and add a different arrangement with loud guitars. What sets Kutless apart from the rest is that it is clearly all about worship. While there is a variety of sounds and styles, it all blends together like a choir where all voices are one, and sing praises to our God in heaven, as it should be.
