CD REVIEWS - BREAKTHROUGH BY SOUNDLESS WHISPER AND STRONGER THAN DEATH BY ZAHNA

I will confess - in the days of streaming, I rarely listen to a whole new album at once, but mix it up with other songs and thus take days (or weeks) to hear the whole track. But in the past week, I've made two exceptions.

The first was Breakthrough by the Swedish band Soundless Whisper. Should you choose to listen to it, you may notice a familiar voice joining in on the opening track "Dismayed": John Schlitt of Petra (formerly with Head East) sings on that song and three others, including their excellent first single, "Dark Cage." Besides those two songs, my favorite tracks include the title track and "Love Will Heal."

The second is "Stronger Than Death" by Zahna, . I thoroughly enjoyed this project. The title track and "This Is Your Calling" absolutely blew me away. Other favorites include a trio of songs previously released as singles - "Better Run," "Erased," and "Die For Something" (with Nesdam) - and the final track, the moving finale "Anything But Destiny."

Both albums were absolutely awesome!