Have You Heard? Get Some Churchin'!

Religious music--particularly that associated with Christianity--appears to be going through a resurgence. A couple very different approaches:

Here I Am--Marvin Sapp--At this writing, this recording is #27 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart, a couple places south of a Taylor Swift CD and a few north of Rihanna. That's right. Not the gospel chart or some other religious list. The Billboard Top 200, where The Glee soundtrack is #1. Who is Marvin Sapp? He's Senior Pastor Marvin Sapp, of the Lighthouse Full Life Center Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He's a traditional gospel performer, but with modern beats and production values. For example, although he performs live on the recording there's a lot of electronic wizardry--including the flawless impeccably mixed sound of a backing choir that has to be the stuff of studio magic, as the singers flawlessly wrap themselves around the pastor. Still, that old-time gospel vibe survives. Sample lyric: "He saw the best in me, when everyone else around me could only see the worst in me..." Note: This is the second CD of his finding mainstream success, so this is no one-hit accident like the great Edwin Hawkins Singers' fabulous record, "Oh Happy Day," a big hit when the world was young.

The World is a Thorn--Demon Hunter--This band from Washington State is best described as "metalcore," so it's not likely they'll be topping any charts soon. Still, this Christian group is regularly reviewed in some of the mainstream metal press, e.g. Revolver magazine, metalreview.com, and not totally marginalized because of their proselytizing (some metal sites, though, still do not write about them). This is loud, growling, and aggressive--a sound you might associate with the Infernal One rather than the pearly gates. But perhaps that's the point: devout Christians can be mosh pitting headbangers or whatever headbangers do. Sample lyric: "Won't bow to government, Won't trust in a failed system of self-fulfilling lust, Won't love a world where my God is mocked..." Demon Hunter will have to leave metalcore to experience the mainstream success of big hair metal band Stryper back in the 1980s, but, considering that in metal integrity is everything, that's unlikely. A gutsy group not afraid to take chances in their work for the Almighty.