Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

A lot of ‘Christian rock’ CDs try to actually achieve the ‘rock’ part of that description, but fail to break out of the confines of what the first half of the term dictates. It’s refreshing to hear a band that can turn it up a notch and still bring the spiritual noise in their lyrics. With, The Heart of War, Jonah33 has created a disc that stands a chance at reaching music fans bored with typical Christian music offerings.

The CD starts out in a heavily “Muse”-influenced mode, with Bullets. Frontman Vince Lichlyter employs a raspy vocal as his main weapon, and it’s pretty effective. Fire At Will, follows up with an unambiguous call for spiritual warfare. Later on Scream, the call is repeated. Its lyrics can be viewed in a couple of ways, and I’d guess Lichlyter meant to create the multiple possible interpretations. On a spiritual level, the lyrics, “We are an army and armies engage when the threat is too great to ignore,” are pretty straightforward. Taken from a political viewpoint, though, the same line echoes the faulty thinking that got the United States into the current mess in Iraq. That said, the chorus is undeniably catchy, with the lyrics, “Scream at the top of your lungs/If you’re ready to die tonight/(to die tonight) for what you believe,” sure to be a concert favorite.

The best song on the disc, Bravery employs a heavy bass-driven riff to great effect, and backs it up with the strongest lyrical effort on the disc. Lichlyter sets up a tale of a protagonist up against an unenviable task, facing up to his metaphorical demons, “Bravery/Don’t leave me here I need you to save me/Save me from this mess I’m in/Honestly/My second thoughts are killing me/Bravery/Fear can only be the death of me.” The song closes with a extended outro featuring the heavy, crushing, almost dirge-like riffs, and an anguished repetition of the line, “Bravery/Fear can only be the death of me.”

Lichlyter takes the vocals to another extreme on White Flag. Unfortunately, that next level doesn’t work nearly as well, with his effort resulting in a laughably bad hardcore vocal taking on perceived enemies. The pre-chorus line “You’re caught up inside of/the disillusion that you actually have control,” actually gives a listener something thoughtful to chew on momentarily, but it falls apart in the chorus. Starting out defiantly, the chorus quickly crosses the line into cheesiness, “I refuse to waive the white flag/over anything I’ve ever stood for/You’re the soul decay that takes away my need/for apathy.”

Politically speaking, Jonah33 might stand far from my own views, but musically, they accomplish something I wish more Christian artists would try, breaking out of the little box created by the CCM industry. Even as I disagree with some of the words Lichlyter rasps out, I’m nodding (and on occasion even headbanging!) to the music he and his band mates are creating. If the material on The Heart of War, is any indication of future offerings from Jonah33, the band has a shot at crossover success. As a starting point, The Heart of War is definitely worth checking out.