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: 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 - "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.