First, let me introduce myself a bit. I live in a very small town called Buhl. There's not much to do there. The radio stations all play top ten (no matter what genre, even the Christian ones), so I get tired of hearing the same ten songs after a day.
I was born in the 80s, and as a kid, hated the music of the 80s. I still distaste it greatly, except for Van Halen and anyone else who was still shredding after the grunge idiots took over.
I went to a Christian high school, Baptist to be exact, and that was a lot of fun. They had a lot of material that was anti-rock 'n' roll. I had a great laugh at most of it, but learned a lot of why the arguments against rnr was/are made.
I started playing guitar while in high school, and loved it. I still enjoy it as therapy and enjoyment. I don't play as much as I should, but being married, and playing Skyrim are a bit hard to balance. I first listened to Led Zeppelin, the Who, Jeff Beck, etc. Funny thing though--as cool as they sounded or still sound, they all left me feeling empty. I guess that's why we have a relationship with Christ right?
OK, so fast foward to modern day. The Christian artists are all pretty much saying the same thing, and I'm discovering that more and more of the "christian artists" are in it for the money, even if it's not as much as secular stuff. We sing Chris Tomlin songs in church, and am sick of it. My friend who is in high school and a musician tells me to check out Theocracy.
I grabbed the "Mirror of Souls" album off a pirate site, and was instantly hooked. "Yes!!" I shouted at work while cutting boards and listening to my iPod. "Yes! Thank you God for a band that still cares about the music and the lyrics!" I compare Theocracy to Keith Green in both talent and lyrics. There are very few bands in the Christian genre where the guitarists can actually play a guitar, and not just chords. Do you know what I'm saying??
So, I bought "As the World Bleeds" on iTunes, and was like slightly disappointed when listening to the new album. Mostly because I like listening to an album straight through, and hadn't been able to.
2 weeks ago, I finally got to get a full spin through, and was amazed at Matt's songwriting skills. And Val's guitar work--holy crap! I loved it, all of it.
I keep thinking to myself "Why is there all this screamo crap on the Christian stations where you can't tell what they're saying, but they won't play Theocracy??" It drives me nuts! You've got the hard Christian station, and 1/2 of the stuff I can't understand or is really really depressing IMO, especially for Christian stuff. There's the "soccer mom" station that plays the same stuff from '95 to '12 stuff that's mainstream Christian, and nothing hard or convicting. Then you've got the other station that plays Kutless worship songs and again the same stuff as mentioned above.
But I really have to compliment Matt's vocals. I mean, how many times do you hear a singer that can belt it out, hit those high notes, and not go 'oh, heck with it!' and go the demon hunter route/screamo junk? It's so refreshing to not hear another John Mayer/Blink 182 wannabe, with stupid stupid lyrics.
I was born in the 80s, and as a kid, hated the music of the 80s. I still distaste it greatly, except for Van Halen and anyone else who was still shredding after the grunge idiots took over.
I went to a Christian high school, Baptist to be exact, and that was a lot of fun. They had a lot of material that was anti-rock 'n' roll. I had a great laugh at most of it, but learned a lot of why the arguments against rnr was/are made.
I started playing guitar while in high school, and loved it. I still enjoy it as therapy and enjoyment. I don't play as much as I should, but being married, and playing Skyrim are a bit hard to balance. I first listened to Led Zeppelin, the Who, Jeff Beck, etc. Funny thing though--as cool as they sounded or still sound, they all left me feeling empty. I guess that's why we have a relationship with Christ right?
OK, so fast foward to modern day. The Christian artists are all pretty much saying the same thing, and I'm discovering that more and more of the "christian artists" are in it for the money, even if it's not as much as secular stuff. We sing Chris Tomlin songs in church, and am sick of it. My friend who is in high school and a musician tells me to check out Theocracy.
I grabbed the "Mirror of Souls" album off a pirate site, and was instantly hooked. "Yes!!" I shouted at work while cutting boards and listening to my iPod. "Yes! Thank you God for a band that still cares about the music and the lyrics!" I compare Theocracy to Keith Green in both talent and lyrics. There are very few bands in the Christian genre where the guitarists can actually play a guitar, and not just chords. Do you know what I'm saying??
So, I bought "As the World Bleeds" on iTunes, and was like slightly disappointed when listening to the new album. Mostly because I like listening to an album straight through, and hadn't been able to.
2 weeks ago, I finally got to get a full spin through, and was amazed at Matt's songwriting skills. And Val's guitar work--holy crap! I loved it, all of it.
I keep thinking to myself "Why is there all this screamo crap on the Christian stations where you can't tell what they're saying, but they won't play Theocracy??" It drives me nuts! You've got the hard Christian station, and 1/2 of the stuff I can't understand or is really really depressing IMO, especially for Christian stuff. There's the "soccer mom" station that plays the same stuff from '95 to '12 stuff that's mainstream Christian, and nothing hard or convicting. Then you've got the other station that plays Kutless worship songs and again the same stuff as mentioned above.
But I really have to compliment Matt's vocals. I mean, how many times do you hear a singer that can belt it out, hit those high notes, and not go 'oh, heck with it!' and go the demon hunter route/screamo junk? It's so refreshing to not hear another John Mayer/Blink 182 wannabe, with stupid stupid lyrics.
