Two reviews in one day? No way! (Ok, now you know I got sidetracked pretty bad)
Blindside: one of the most successful Christian rock bands in…Christian rock history…haha. Of course, you’ve got the old school bands such as Stryper, Petra…Newsboys…and legends such as DC Talk…but Blindside is another one on that list of Christian bands that is just THERE. Of course, being from Sweden, these boys know how to rock!
About A Burning Fire is an older release, the much anticipated follow-up album to Silence. Of course, we all know that although I am a very chronological man, my reviews usually do not follow suit. About… being the middle sibling between Silence and The Great Depression shows an important pivotal point in Blindside’s sound and style. I would say that the current style that Blindside has is the next step contributed by About….
We start off this treat with Eye of the Storm. Blindside starts the CD off with a very melancholic sound, beginning with a [second long] acapella which immediately breaks off into Christian’s screaming and the instruments coming alive. This first song really sets the tone for the entire CD actually, since the lyrics for Eye… are really strong and will definitely hit home. All of us have storms in our lives, and sometimes when the category 5 storm slams into our life hard, we just might be swept away at the end of it all. However, through this song we are encouraged to tough it out, and suggest that through the storms of our lives we are able to come out being closer to God.
Please come closer
Cause I don’t even touch You anymore
Please see I’m walking in to the eye of the storm
And I’ll still come out loving You even more
…
Please come closer
Cause my heart doesn’t touch Yours anymore
Please see I’m walking into the eye of the storm
And I’ll still come out loving You even more
We continue through our reflections and hit All Of Us, which reflects on how everyone is searching for something to cling onto. And its pretty much true, we were all designed for community, all designed to worship…we’re just given the choice of what we want to worship. We take a break and have a mini-testimonial song in Shekina. What’s so special about this track? Well, we have the first and second verses in Swedish, which are then translated into English. Plus, we have a Swedish female vocalist in the background.
After a catchy Hooray, It’s LA, which features Billy Corgan from Smashing Pumpkins, which…I believe attacks how we fall into modern society/culture and try to erase God from the big picture, we hear something familiar. If you’ve played the first NFSU, you’ll remember there was a Blindside song called Swallow. I’m…still trying to really understand the entire song. I believe it may be about how you’d need to taste salvation, in terms of understanding it, in order to accept it? In other words…you’d have to really experience God to accept Him into your heart? It was a good song…in a hype-view.
Die Buying also tackles the materialistic issues, where we once again get the message that material things != salvation. Continuing throughout the CD, we get a constant theme of reliance, salvation and reminders that the things of this world will not last. We end the CD off with the title track…and may fire rain down. Lyrics available here…
So all in all, this is another one of those CDs that you would expect to like, and your expectations are met. I mean, if you’re already a fan of the band, you’d most likely like the CD right off the bat. There are, of course, some bands which make quite an exception…however, Blindside is not one of them. For this reason, Blindside will continue to be one of the top Christian rock bands…
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Vocals: Christian’s voice may not be for everyone, but he is one of those rockers that is able to sing AND scream. Very high range as well, as usual.
Instrumentals: The Blindside crew maintains the amount of rockage they have always supplied. This time around, people may accuse them of being softer, and compared to a few JROCK bands and some other bands out there, they’re a little softer. It’s up to you to decide, really.
Lyrics: Each song has a message. Each song reinforces an underlying theme behind the CD.
Overall: Perfect 10…everything I expected from Blindside…plus some Swedish.