ALBUM REVIEW - "HOUSE OF MOURNING" BY ANGEL MACHINE

"The heart of the wise in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth." Ecclesiastes 7:4

"House of Mourning," the most recent release by Angel Machine, can be considered a concept album, based on the theme of the title, with lyrics, vocals, and keyboards creating a heavy mood. 

Angel Machine consists of Wayde and Apryll Seraph. This project begins with "Prelude: the House of Mourning," consisting of spoken word backed up with the electronic keyboards, and concludes with the radio edit of "Sea of Glass" (a longer version is the 3rd cut). 

At the halfway mark of 2026, this is my favorite album of the year. It definitely is thought provking and has memorable songs. My favorites are "Sea of Glass" and "Belief Divides." The instrumentals (title track, winter song) are both excellent as well.

ALBUM REVIEW - "STORYMAN" BY AMY SHREVE

 I am so excited to see a new project out by Amy Shreve. We first were acquainted with her when she and her husband Gary Wixtrom ministered at a Voice of the Martyr Conference in Fort Wayne, Indiana back in 2003. Becky and I had the honor of having them perform in two different churches we attended.

It has been a while since I heard a new, original music project, and "Storyman" is worth the wait. From the strong start of "I'm Still Dreaming," each of the eight songs grab you. Included is an alternate version of the single "Eden," which was previously released 3 years ago. Also, Gary does the lead vocal on the concluding "Better Country;" this isn't the first time he sings the final song (he did "Fortress" on the classic album "Haven"). 

What are my favorite songs on this project? I can honestly answer "all of them," but I'll mention which ones stand a little above the others: "I'm Still Dreaming," "How the Story Ends," "Eden" (though I like the single version better) and "Better Country."

ALBUM REVIEW - ARE YOU READY BY MCKENNA

 

Anybody like me in looking for new rock? I discovered "Are You Ready" by the rock band McKenna. This is a good, high energy band. They also have long, well developed songs - most are over five minutes in length, one of which is 6:20 and the last track is listed as being 12:23. More on the final track.

My favorite tracks on this project are the title track, "Love Remains," "Time To Go," "Push The World Out," and "Homecoming." 

Is there such a thing as a spoiler in album reviews? Have you ever listened to a CD where after the last track on the list the player continues for a minute or more before another unlisted song pops up? This one does that. I was prepared for a real long, YES type song, but the song ended after six and a half minutes and then a new one came on a minute later.

I really enjoyed this album and highly recommend it.

ALBUM REVIEW - THERE'S A SONG FOR THAT BY THE DOWN EAST BOYS

 I've heard of the Down East Boys, but I wasn't familiar with any of their music until I saw them on Guy Penrod's Gospel Music Showcase recently and followed that up by listening to their latest EP, "There's A Song For That."

As a result, Down East Boys are on my short-list of favorite Southern Gospel performers, which I consistently like their music but also am inspired and encouraged by great lyrics. I'll definitely be listening to more of them.

My favorite songs among this six song collection are the title track, "The Song of the Redeemed," and "Until He Comes." 

ALBUM REVIEW: BEAUTIFULLY UNWORTHY BY WORSHIPWIRED

 

I always enjoy hearing new projects that leave me inspired and blessed. "Beautifully Unworthy" is that type of album. Every song on this 6 song EP has great music and a great message. My favorite songs are "Truth I'm Standing On," "Life Unauthentic," and "Life In Full Bloom." 

I highly recommend this project.

ALBUM REVIEW - GOD IS WITH US BY AL-TIRAH

 I had the honor of getting to listen to AL-TIRAH's debut album. It starts out with the soulful "Ain't No Grave" and concludes with the driving guitars of "You Raise Me Up," with wonderful songs like "Everything," "Mold Me Like Clay." and "Psalm 3" in between. Interestingly, in fact, the 9 songs are in alphabetic order (at least, it's that way on Spotify). Besides the versatile sounds of the music, the lyrics are inspiring and uplifting.

When I write a review of an album, I point out what my favorite songs are. So what are my favorite tunes on this song album? Well, there's the songs I mentioned in the above paragraph, and there's also "Back Slider," "Luke 23," "Passion," and "Pray For Reign." And if you're counting, you'll realize I mentioned every song on the project. 

I'm looking forward to hearing what they come out with next.

ALBUM REVIEW - RIBS BY ANNA OWENS & FOREVER YOUNG

 

I had the honor of hearing Anna Owens in concert in Dec., '23. Her album "Ribs" contains several deep, thought provoking folk songs. 

My favorites among this 15 song collection are "Unbroken," "Crossroad," "Holier Than Thou," "Broken Cisterns," "Reflections," "Blood Related," "Like A Child," and "Sparrow."

ALBUM REVIEW - UP FROM THE ASHES BY NEW DAY RISING

Are you looking for an energetic, hard rock band? Allow me to suggest "Up From The Ashes" by New Day Rising.

Technically, I have not had the honor of hearing New Day Rising yet. However, last year I heard the band Eyes Aflame, as well as revealing their EP "Not The End" (an excellent album, but let me get back on topic). Eyes Aflame's guitarist, bassist, and drummer are also in New Day Arising, along with a second guitarist and two different singers. New Day Rising is harder than Eyes Aflame musically.

I enjoyed this album. My favorite songs from this "Up From The Ashes" are the title track, "Darkest Part Of Me," "Hero," "Relentless," and "Fire In Your Eyes."

Did I mention I recommend this project? Well, if not, I do now. 

ALBUM REVIEW - TELL ME THE STORY BY JONATHAN AND EMILY MARTIN

I love the season of Advent (the four weeks preceding Christmas). I grew up without that tradition. As an adult, I've been at churches where they light the advent candles, and where the Pastor has a series looking at Christ's coming. I also became aware of the difference between Advent songs (e.g. "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," "Joy to the World") and Christmas songs (e.g. "Hark The Herald Angels Sing," "Away In A Manger"). But I never heard of an Advent album. 

Until now.

"Tell Me The Story," the most recent project by Jonathan and Emily Martin, qualifies as being an Advent album. A couple of songs would be classified more as Christmas songs, but most focus more on the impact of the coming (Advent) of Jesus Christ, the Son of God than on the historic event of His birth. 

There is not a bad song on this album. The songs all are encouraging and upbuilding. My favorites are "God Came Down To Us," "The Impossible," and "The Unexpected Ones."

I'm writing this the evening before Jonathan and Emily minister at my church, which motivated me to listen to the project. I'm glad I did. I highly recommend this product.

 

ALBUM REVIEW - ASSIMILATION BY CRIMSON OVERTONE

 

Is it that I'm getting old, or just am not paying attention? I'm discovering new groups and new singers and forget how I stumbled on listing them. Are they at a festival I'm following? Did they get recommended by Spotify? Did I just stumble on them? Crimson Overtone is an example, but when I discovered their awesome song "I Stand," I was hooked.

Today, I'm covering their EP Assimilation. No, it doesn't include "I Stand." But it has five other good, hard rocking songs. 

This project is a concept album (I'm finding a lot of good ones recently). The five songs deal a person becoming assimilated into God's plan for their lives. My favorites on this project are "Unbelief," "Severed," and "War Cry".

The interesting thing is that the week I listened to "Assimilation," I was preparing to teach a Sunday School class on Daniel 1, where Daniel and his friends were expected to assimilate into the Babylonian culture, and they had to take a stand on an issue that mattered to them.

Crimson Overtone are on my list of bands I want to get to hear and meet someday. I highly recommend this EP.

ALBUM REVIEW - RAVINER BY RAVINER

 

 You may remember me telling you how much I enjoyed Kingdom Come Festival, where I heard seven great artists. The group I ended my day watching was Raviner, who are based in Nashville, TN (as are another group I reviewed music of, Rusty Shipp). 

Today, I'll be reviewing Raviner's self titled EP. I'll go against traditional reviewing and my typical personality and start with what I didn't like about this project, which is one thing: The songs are so good, five tracks are just an appetizer! I want to hear more!

There is not a single bad song... no, let me start over. There is not a single not-great song on this EP. I loved every single song on it, from the opening of "Red" to the conclusion "Black Hole," with a pair of singles in between ("Drown" and "Animal.") 

Kamber Kigin's vocals are top notch, and Matt Richards' guitar is just as good. I'm definitely a Raviner fan. My favorite tracks - well, technically, all five of them, but "Red" (which would have also made a good single), "Drown," and "Thin Ice" were the ones I enjoyed the most.

I'm looking forward to both hearing them live again and at least as much to what they have next. (I just finished listening to their latest single, "Mania," which came out after the EP.)

ALBUM REVIEW: THE CASTLE OF LOST HOPE BY I AM THE PENDRAGON

 

 One of life's questions I haven't figured out yet: What is a pendragon? Is there also a pencildragon? And am I the only person for whom the band name "I Am The Pendragon" makes them think "I am the Eggman, Wooo?"

But what matters is: "The Castle of Lost Hope" by I Am The Pendragon is well worth adding to your collection. It is the third concept album I've listened this year, and probably is one of my three favorite concept albums.

This project starts with a spoken introduction titled "Lamentations End." My hunch is that this second album is a follow-up to their debut, which starts the story concluded here. 

There is not a bad song in the remaining nine songs. No, let me rephrase that. Every song on the project is great. My favorites are "Rise and Reclaim" and "Falling Stars." Right behind it are the title track, "Momento Mori," "Woe Is Me,""Surely, I Am With You," and the concluding song "Burn It Down."

One reason it blessed me is how motivational the lyrics are. I felt built up and ready to fight the good fight after hearing this.

I really enjoyed the project, and plan to listen to their debut album - I need something to do until their next project comes out! After all, I heard them do a great song called "Atonement" when I heard them live at Kingdom Come Festival this year, and would love to hear it again. And again. And ... you get the idea.

ALBUM REVIEW - "ONWARD" BY KAYLA CAREESE

 I go through phases of listening to songs on Spotify's "Discover Weekly." I believe that is how I discovered "The Martyr Song" by Kayla Careese (not to be confused with Erick Nelson's classic "Martyr Song"). From there, I started listening to other songs of Kayla, and finally took the time to sit down and listen to her complete album "Onward."

Kayla's music is primarily piano based and easy listening, and very good. There was not a bad song on the 12 song project, with my favorites being the title track, "Faith," "Only A Moment," "My Heart," "Seek God Seek Life," the concluding "Christ Our Anchor" and, as mentioned above, "The Martyr Song."

This album came out in 2017, and I'm looking forward to the next one.

 

ALBUM REVIEW - THEOTERRAN BY THEOTERRAN

 

One thing I enjoy - albums that are best enjoyed listening to it in its entirity from beginning to end. Some of these are concept albums, some are not. I've listened to two great projects in the past few weeks that fit this category: "Dark Side Of The Ocean" by Rusty Shipp and Theoterran's self-titled debut project. I reviewed the former recently, and have the honor of focusing on the other now.

This project has a great opening in "Gates Of TheoTerra."  and continues to the end ten songs later with "Undefeated." Before listening to this, I was acquainted with their first two singles "WarCry" and "Empty" (both are on this album). The former is a song that has been repeating in my mind the past few days, and I was excited to hear its opening when I got to that point. Their newest single, "Static," is also a solid song, as is "Reanimate."

However, I definitely have a favorite. "Orchestrate" caught my attention from the beginning of the song.

I highly recommend this project. You can listen to them on Spotify and YouTube, as well as their homepage and their FaceBook page.

ALBUM REVIEW - "Q & A: THE STAGES OF BELIEF" BY FORSAKEN HERO

I've been looking forward to getting to hear the new project out by Forsaken Hero, and I was not disappointed.

There are several strong tracks on the project, starting out with the lead off song "You Are The Light (We Praise You)"  and concluding with "Jesus Loves Me." In between are "Reliable," "Just Our Beginning (God So Loved Me)," "Questions," "God Doesn't Care," "Reason" and "Never Gonna Stop."

I was encouraged and blessed listing to this album and highly recommend it. 

For further information on Forsaken Hero and "Q&A: The Stages of Belief," you can check out their website http://www.forsakenhero.com/index.html or their Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/forsakenhero/about. They also stream on Spotify.

ALBUM REVIEW - "THE DARK SIDE OF THE OCEAN" BY RUSTY SHIPP

Some albums are a great collection of songs. In the '70's, those albums would be just as good on vinyl or on an 8-track where the songs are in a completely different order. Other albums are meant to be listened to from beginning to end in a particular order, some of which are concept albums and some aren't. Included in the latter list is "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Band" by the Beatles, "No Compromise" by Keith Green, "The Misfit" by Erick Nelson and Michele Pillar, "The Roar Of Love" (a musical retelling of C.S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe) by 2nd Chapter of Acts, and the newest on this list, "The Dark Side of the Ocean" by Rusty Shipp.

As you can see, this project has a very creative cover, and the songs are just as creative. There are seventeen cuts to this project, with seven of those being interludes of ninety seconds or less (five being less than a minute), including the opening title track. The songs flow from one to another.

While there's no weak songs in this collection, allow me to mention my favorites: "Us And Them," "Livin' Water," "Bottom of the Barrell,", "Tanninim," and "What's Kraken?".

I highly recommend this project. You can learn more about Rusty Shipp on their website, or their Facebook Page; you can also check them out on Spotify.

 

ALBUM REVIEWS - CHAMPIONS, HERE & NOW, AND OUT OF THE BLUE BY TRACE BALIN

Trace Balin, photo courtesy of Discogs

 

I remember hearing Trace Balin on the radio in the late '80's, most notably "We Need Each Other" - a trio with Marty McCall (Fireworks, First Call) and Bob Carlisle (Allies, singer of "Butterfly Kisses"). However, I was blown away by her song "Never Let It Be Said," written by producer Jonathan David Brown, which is my all-time second favorite song (only to Steve Taylor's "I Just Wanna Know." 

For that reason, her second project "Here & Now" was added to my collection. I also had the honor of hearing her at a GMA Extravaganza Event and heard her do a four song set, including "We Need Each Other," with Marty and Bob joining her. However, I never broke down and got "Champions" or "Out Of The Blue." For the record, I'm not aware of any other projects. 

Three days before writing this, I turned off the shuffle feature and put on "Out Of The Blue." The next day, I finally listened to "Champions." And after listening, I asked myself, "Why did I wait so long?!"

So I'll review all three of her albums in one setting. 

Her first project was "Champions." I had forgotten the song "Only For You," let alone that Trace was the one who recorded it. I always loved that song. There are other great songs on this like "All I Wanna Do," "We Are An Army," "Rock' These Rafters," "Walk In The Spirit," "I Don't Deserve Your Love," and of course the title track and "We Need Each Other." 

As I mentioned earlier, "Here And Now" is the only album I've heard more than half a week ago. The title song is a great opening track, and has several songs I absolutely love on it: "If I Don't Have Love," "Eye Of the Hurricane," "When The Well Runs Dry," "Well Done," "Just Between You And Me," and her rendition of the classic hymn "All Hail The Power." And I dare not forget the haunting concluding number "Why Me?" and of course the above mentioned "Never Let It Be Said."

Last but not least is "Out Of The Blue." Three of the four songs I heard her do at the above mentioned concert were from this project. All her songs are great musically, but I found the words of this project to be challenging in a positive sense, right off with the opening track "Stranger." It contains another song I forgot about (and again that she did it): "Answer To Prayer." Other good songs include the title track, "Changes," "My Heart Is Set On You," "This Is Where," "Meet You In The Garden," "The Love We Know," "Walk It Out," and the final song "You Were My Last Hope."

If you never heard her, I recommend you check Trace Balin's albums out. You can find her projects on Discogs and on Spotify. You'll see why she's one of my favorite singers.
 

 

ALBUM REVIEW - "NOT THE END" BY EYE'S AFLAME

 

 I had the honor of hearing Eye's Aflame live in concert recently. Today, I was blessed on listening to their EP. I had listened to some of their songs isolated, but it was great to hear the whole project.

There are some albums that starts out with a song that grabs your attention. The single "Heartbreak Embrace" is that kind of song, between the great guitar of Jammin Shue and the vocals off Gary Rodd and Sarah Shue.  Other stand outs include the other two singles, "Unbreakable" (with Dvine Words) and "Not the End," as well as "Fight" and the concluding "King of Kings."

Eye's Aflame has become one of my favorite bands. I enjoyed this project and their concert, and am looking forward to hearing more of them.

Eye's Aflame's Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/EyesAflameband. You can also see videos of ""Fight," "Unbreakable," and other songs not on this EP on YouTube, Local Overdrive's Page. They also are streaming on Amazon and Spotify (and probably other steaming venues as well).

 

ALBUM REVIEW - "ON THE RIGHT ROAD" BY THE RIGHT ROAD QUARTET

 

 In the fall of 2021, I had the privilege of attending an Indiana Gospel Music Festival event at my home church, Northside Baptist Church. One of the three performers was then IGMF President, Devin Cunningham. (By the way, it was hosted by Indiana Gospel Music Association President and good friend Eric Shaw.) A large part included Cunningham leading in impromptu singings mixing him and Eric with the members of the other groups (the Victorious Trio and the Divinity Trio). Cunningham made an impression on me and I've added him to my regular prayer list and keep up with him on Facebook.(You can click on this link to see my interview with Devin from Nov. '21.)

Devin Cunningham is currently tenor for the Right Road Quartet, and I'm honored to review their project "On The Right Road." If you like good quartet singing, you'll enjoy this. It starts with the Michael Card song "I Have Decided" (maybe better known for Amy Grant covering it on "Age to Age"), and goes through with a few jazzy songs and some country sounding songs, closing with a delightful aca pella "Jesus Name Medley."

My favorite songs on the project are "Sing A Little Bit More," "Step Out Of The Boat" (both co-written by Cunningham) and the needs-to-be-listened-to "Pray For Revival."

I highly recommend this album.

By the way, I recently met Jerrod Cunningham of the Christian rock band I Am The Pendragon. Are Devin and Jerrod related? Maybe not, but I'd love to hear a collaboration of the two.

ALBUM REVIEW - TRUE REVIVAL, SELF-TITLED

 If you want a blues-rock album with strong, Biblical lyrics, your hunt is over. You need to look no further than True Revival's self-titled debut project.

I first learned of True Revival a year ago when they were announced as one of the participants of the 2022 Kingdom Come festival. I interviewed them just prior to that performance (to read interview, click here). Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend that year, but I did see a video of them live later last year.

This was an excellent album, with several strong songs, such as the title track, "Forgiven," "Someone Great In Me," "His House Of Love," and my favorite, "The Sword." (There aren't enough songs dealing with the importance of Scripture nowadays, if ever.) It also includes excellent arrangements of a pair of good old time Christian songs, "Blessed Assurance" and "I Shall Not Be Moved."

"True Revival" is likely going to be on my favorite album list, and is definitely the most recent entry on that list by well over a decade. I highly recommend it.

The following links are for their webpage, Facebook, and Spotify. They're also going to be performing at a Biker Rally in Plainfield, IN, May 20th.