Tag: song of the day

Glam metal gets a bad rap. Especially in punk/indie/hardcore circles. Except for the occasional semi-ironic nod to the genre, it doesn’t get much love outside of 40- and 50-something dads who like to show off old photos of their teenage mullets. Whether the cheesyness or the sleaziness is to blame, folks seem to have a love-hate relationship with it. Occasionally, however, there are some real gems. Rage of Angels released one fantastic album in 1989 through Regency Records. Shortly thereafter, the Connecticut-based band split up, leaving 2 members to join the newly-formed mainstream pop metal outfit Steelheart, who had huge radio hits with “She’s Gone” and “I’ll Never Let You Go.”… Continued →

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So, it’s New Year’s Day. 2020 is a recently faded memory, but with the obvious enduring repercussions. Do you make New Year’s resolutions? Or affirmations, or commitments, or whatever else people are calling them nowadays? My wife (who is an artist) loves the New Year holiday. She sees it as a blank slate. A new chance to start over. Erase all the marks from the chalkboard (remember those?) or the whiteboard, or your Zoom screen and go again, taking all you’ve learned to try and do it better next time.… Continued →

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Today’s perfect “Christmas” song is none other than MxPx “Christmas Day” from that cherished 1999 compilation album, “Happy Christmas Vol. 2”. This compilation was released on BEC Recordings / T&N which brought some classics from artists like MxPx, Sixpence None The Richer, All Star United, Plankeye, Hangnail, Flight 180, Starflyer 59, Fanmail, Element 101, Deluxetone Rockets, and so many more. First 3 Volumes are pure classics! MxPx brought it at a time where the band was exploding with “Slowly Going the Way of the Buffalo”.… Continued →

Another Song of The Day from the great Happy Christmas series of the late 90’s. The first 3 Volumes still remain some of my favorite “Christmas” collections of songs, by far. My song of the day, which is the 2nd today, Christmas Eve. Fanmail came out swinging with a punk rock classic done with their (now) classic sound. Scott Silletta (Ex-Plankeye) was always in his best element by showing a bit of edge behind the guitar and mic. This song is certainly no exception to that rule.… Continued →

When Happy Christmas Vol. 1 hit my ears, I was pleasantly and delightfully impressed. It had some of my favorite bands at the time doing their best versions of Christmas classics. One of those songs was “You Gotta Get Up” by Five Iron Frenzy which was originally composed by Rich Mullins (RIP). The song is a playful tune with a bouncy rhythm and plenty of holiday cheer, perfect for the Christmas season. Well placed horn section and Reese’s unforgettable voice, I mean that in the most sincere way.… Continued →

There are so many different types of Living Sacrifice fans. People who started listening from the beginning, and those who joined somewhere along the way. Fans who praise their experimental phase, those who prefer the -core era, and those who swear by the traditional metal era. Heck, I even know one guy who claims they only released one album (he’s a thrash fan), and all the others were recorded by imposters! The band has certainly seen a number of different phases, most easily broken down into two main categories (metal and -core) with a few other splinters.… Continued →

Don’t you hate it when an amazing band releases one stellar album and then disappears off the map leaving virtually no trace whatsoever? That’s more or less what happened to Minnesota’s The Swoon. This intelligent, artsy, literate (one of the band’s song titles is a Dante reference) band made up one third of Christian jangle-pop’s ‘holy trinity’ (also including The Throes and The Walk). Their debut album was released on Narrowpath Records, in conjunction with Refuge (the obscure indie label also released such classics as debuts by Breakfast with Amy and The Crucified), and was made up of two earlier cassette-only demos, ben son, ben son Beatrice and Neverland, the latter of which was produced by Charlie Peacock.… Continued →

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There’s a recurring debate about who the first Christian rocker was. It’s very often touted that Larry Norman was the “godfather of Christian rock.” And if we mean by that that he was the first artist to really capture the essence of the genre with a wide influence, you’d have a pretty decent argument. However, if we’re talking about who was first, it wasn’t him. Not by a long shot. Larry’s first Gospel album dropped in 1969, after an impactful encounter with the Holy Spirit led him away from a substantial career in famed rock group People!… Continued →

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British Christian reggae artist Ben Okafor was born in Nigeria. Experiencing life as a victim of the Nigerian civil war, and even serving temporarily as a child soldier, Okafor was able to relocate to England in the late 70s where he began a career as a reggae artist. His early works were even produced by Bob Lamb (UB40). Musically, Ben’s music has always had an interesting mix of influences from traditional roots reggae (Ben’s clean guitar playing is noted throughout his lengthy discography) to lovers rock (AKA pop-reggae), but also including folk and world elements–all of which are impacted by his diverse cultural and geographical background.… Continued →

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This band holds a special place in my heart. I’ve been a fan since 2001 or so when I first heard “Foreign Concepts” from Men of Israel Records. They were big time self promoters and got their music into my ears. I bought their early albums for sale in my store back in the day. The band was out from Israel touring the country and stopped in to play this store here in Orange County, CA. where I was putting on “I’m Your Biggest Fan Vol.… Continued →

I’m not sure how most IVM readers feel about new wave and synth-driven music. It’s extremely nostalgic for me, having grown up in the 80s. The 1980s also comprised the decade where contemporary Christian music came into its own as a marketable industry. While you could argue the merits of that, or against them, it’s a simple fact. But where there is ‘progress’ or marketability (read: money), there will also always be an undercurrent–an independent protest against the mainstream. Marc Plainguet–and his alter egos Gadget and Crazed Bunnyz–were spearheading lo-fi and experimental synth-driven music in the underground tape-trading scene.… Continued →

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When Seventh Angel’s debut album The Torment came out, I was an instant fan. I was a huge thrash fan in my teenage years, and their unique take on it–lots of acoustic interludes, and darker chord progressions–appealed to me. A couple of years later, the band followed up with Lament for the Weary. I must admit that at first I didn’t get it. It was much slower than any thrash I’d ever heard, and I hadn’t discovered doom yet as a genre, so I didn’t have a frame of reference for slower tunes.… Continued →

When it comes to black metal, true fans will generally argue that the more raw, the better. And the more underground too. And there’s not much more rare, raw, and underground than Flaskavsae. The band was spearheaded by the mysterious “E” and most of their releases were in limited runs of a few hundred copies. I happened across the band when I was running a distro about 15 years ago specializing in underground metal, hardcore and indie rock (among other things). Their sound, though bleak, brings in bits of atmospheric layers, and at times, downright noisy textures.… Continued →

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Power pop was (is?) a strange phenomenon. Despite the big hooks, melodic overtones and just enough of a punk edge to keep things interesting, it never really caught on in a huge way. Although it’s made inroads into new wave and, more recently, indie pop, the leaders of the subgenre still remain fairly underground, with a few notable exceptions (Cheap Trick and The Romantics are among the few artists with major radio hits). It should be no surprise then, that in Christian circles, artists in the style were even fewer.… Continued →

Mad at the World went through at least three distinct phases throughout their history, which impressively spans across 4 decades: synth-pop/new wave, hard alternative rock/metal, and retro rock/alternative. We’ve already featured a song from their synth-pop era, and here’s one from their hard alternative phase, but one that interestingly enough hints at their retro phase that would be unleashed in 2 more albums’ time. Both of the songs I’ve chosen from the Rose brothers have spoken words of encouragement to me when I needed them. Let’s face it: 2020 has largely been crap.… Continued →

I’ll just come out and say it, “Deathbed” is quite possibly the best “Christian” song that has been written in the past 15 years. That is quite a statement to make and I’ll tell you why. First of all, bands who can create an 11 minute “epic” song with constant peaks and valleys all the while captivating the listener with a heavy dose of heart tugging melodrama, you know they are doing it right. I don’t know what it is and maybe that’s just me being a sentimental, sappy fool, but when I give this track a listen, I am left with a tear(s) streaming down my cheek.… Continued →

It’s hard to believe this release is nearing 20 years old. Although I’ve been hearing about it for years, I only recently acquired a copy for myself, and it sounds just as innovative and fresh now as it must’ve done when it first dropped. I’m not sure how many industrial music fans we have at IVM, but this is the real deal. It’s not metallic industrial, nor dance stuff, just harsh, sonic, rhythmic experimentations. And what really caught me off guard was how much this album infuses ambient sounds.… Continued →

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When listening to music, do you ever get the feeling you’re hearing something deeply personal, and you’re not really sure if you should be listening in? Of course, recorded music is made to be heard. It’s marketed for consumption. But there are some songs that just seem so intimate it’s like you’re accidentally listening to a private conversation. “Days End” from Brandtson’s debut strikes me that way. I was equally excited and perplexed when I first heard about this new band (in the late 90s). Six Feet Deep had been a staple in the Spirit-filled hardcore scene–passionate and preachy as that genre was known for, when the members changed the band name and style, replaced by the new “emo” tag (at the time, anyway).… Continued →

Beloved (US) released this absolutely flawless cover of U2’s classic song, “Like a Song”, last month. It is without a doubt, one of my favorite cover songs by an artist we write about and quite simply one of the best songs of 2020. To be honest, I wasn’t as familiar with this U2 song as much as their other more famous tracks but nonetheless the band put their own unique spin on it and blew it out of the water. It’s not only lyrically poignant but the sound quality of this one song is on par with anything a major label artist would release in 2020.… Continued →