A Review Based on Superficial Comparisons. . .plus some insights into the music

The Day Of’s: Day of Fire and Day of Infamy


Hard Rock: Day of Fire
Essential Records released Day of Fire’s debut self-titled release at the end of October, and it is probably one of the hardest rocking albums yet from the Christian imprint. With Day of Fire, Essential can join the Hard Rock end of the Spectrum near Jonah33, Kutless, and the Wind-up Records heavy rock acts like Evanesence and Big Dismal. The Christian radio single is “Cornerstone,” a much tamer track which still retains the intensity of the rest of this collection. Go deeper than what radio allows, and you’ll find the blistering “Detainer,” the 90’s-hard-rock-with-acoustic-rhythm-guitar “Fade Away,” “I Am the Door” which like an electronics-less Skillet tune, and the guitar crunching opener “Through the Fire.”


Hard Rock: Day of Infamy
Finding their own charging rock are Day of Infamy. The album is set to be released early in 2005, but the single, “Red Autumn,” is full powered, stadium rock, equal parts 70’s classic rock, 80’s Metallica, and 90’s grunge rock. However, the youngest member, King van dern Berg, is only 11 years old, not even born when Nirvana released Nevermind. Van dern Berg’s brother older brother (16 years old), Michael, provides lead guitar and keyboards. The van dern Berg’s are joined by Jeff McMahan (15) on rhythm guitar and Jeremy Morris (19) on lead vocals and bass. Day of Infamy is catching attention for their firey guitar version of Hanson, but there’s more going on here. With the right songs and production, don’t look for a kiddie-sized album. As Joss Stone is to soul music so Day of Infamy is to hard rock. What people can’t figure out is how Stone—a very young Brit—knows how to sing with so much smoldering passion. What people may have trouble figuring out is how these teens in Day of Infamy can play like they’ve spent years waking up the neighbors, burning down nightclubs, and watching over screaming, fist-punching fans packed in front of the stage.

So, both bands have “Day Of” in the name. A superficial comparison, but actually, you’ll find them both in the Hard Rock section of the Spectrum. The next comparison. . .well, that’s a bit more superficial.

The Number Ones: Number One Gun and Number One Fan


Hard Rock: Number One Gun
Even though Day of Fire is a rare hard rocking offering from Essential Records, the Christian music scene is ripe with heavier, emo bands, including Everyday Sunday, Mourning September, and Cool Hand Luke. Number One Gun joins these guitar-crunching Christian bands with accessible riffs, anthemic vocals, and punctuating drum fills. Their album, Celebrate Mistakes, released this past summer by Floodgate Records fits in well with the Jimmy Eat World-defined emo area of the Spectrum. “The Last Time” begins with a waltz-like feel, saying, “This is the last time,” like a arms-open-wide declaration. That shout-it-from-the-mountaintop introduction jumps down into the pit for a pogo-tempo section. The song is so well-balanced between those up tempo sections and the pause-to-reflect balladry. Number One Gun shows a great ability to avoid rushing through a song in one set rhythm/tempo/style; theirs is a Hard Rock sound that develops all of the emotions, pushing and pulling the listener. Like storywriters, Number One Gun creates rising conflict musically, a suspense about the next section of the song. There’s just so many places where the listener is keyed up, ready to jump in the air with the band to land on that next incredible downbeat signaling the tempo shift.


Hard Rock: Number One Fan
Also competing to be #1 is Number One Fan. While the comparison is based on the superficial similarity in their names, Number One Fan lands right near Number One Gun in that Emo subset of the Hard Rock category. There’s a little bit more Garage Band leanings in their approach, as with Everyday Sunday’s sometimes comparison to Relient K. On their album, Compromises, released by Pat’s Record Company, songs like “Nothing Will Change” induce headbanging all while singing with hands-over-heart. The opening track, “Come On,” again shows all of those Jimmy Eat World echoes. While it may strike the music world as redundant to create too many Emo bands, this is actually something the Christian music scene desperately needs. Number One Fan’s songs are brutally honest—which should be found in Christians as they talk about their faith. “The Prettiest Sin” talks about the very real temptations of sex; “There Went the World” doesn’t preach sexual abstinence, but it sure paints a very real picture of why kids want sex and the very real consequences of making compromises of our morals.

So, again, the superficial connection is in the name. While they may not be chart-toppers, they’ll always be #1 in our hearts. Now Number One Fan’s CD artwork takes us to our next superficial connection.

The School Photos: Number One Fan and Thirdimension
The cover of Number One Fan’s Consequences shows the guys in a hallway that looks remarkably similar to “jock hall” at my high school, Bloomington Jefferson Senior High, Bloomington, Minnesota. With the windows on one side, bringing in the bright sun which we’d go hours without seeing in windowless classrooms, with the brick walls and orange carpet, this could be “jock hall” at Jefferson, a hall that freshmen learned to avoid as the senior jocks ogled the girls, pestered the younger jocks, and plain traumatized the non-jocks. I avoided the hall for most of my time at Jefferson.


English Rock: Thirdimension
You’ll also find photos to remind you of school days on the cover of Thirdimension’s Permanent Holiday. The separate desk-tables and chairs remind me a bit more of a college classroom, but hey, the comparison is there. Thirdimension departs company with Number One Fan musically, though. Not sure that you’ve heard enough Coldplay, or want to see Coldplay expand their dimensions? Take a listen to Permanent Holiday, because Bjorn Stegmann’s voice sounds a lot like Coldplay’s Chris Martin. (I feel like I just said this. . . ). Thirdimension is released by Parasol/Hidden Agenda.

Wonderful keys from Markus Slivka and Elisabeth Jeansson help to further the Coldplay comparisons, landing this Swedish band in that quintessential English Rock sound section. “Ex-Song” and “Last Real People” have some of that Oasis attitude. “Holiday” and “Save Me” both begin like October-era U2 piano-led songs. “Silver Eye” has some of that Scandinavian penchant for dance keyboards. The harmonies on “Sore Lips” sends them towards the Byrds side of things.

Finally, the plaintive “The Only Healer” deals with a strange dream of a conversation between members of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit wondering where Jesus went. Guest vocalist Caroline Schultz adds a detached verse on lead, furthering the fuzzy lines around this dream sequence. The track wakes itself up to stare at the bedroom ceiling in the dark asking, “Years ago I was just another soul/Who found it hard to grow/Easier now/Is time the only healer?”

So while the superficial connection of school photos is how we got here, I’m glad we came. Thirdimension takes you beneath the surface, discovering another level to the music universe. This isn’t just some high school band; this is a group on the day of graduation who are number one in their class. Oh, boy, will the connections never cease? Just go get yourself some good music like this.

Thanks to these artists and labels for the review copies.