There is one real problem with Christian Rock for the Atheist and the Agnostic crowd – spiritual lyrics are just sometimes far too cringe-worthy to bear.
Relient K’s latest offering, Forget And Not Slow Down, fortunately, doesn’t cross that line. I know very little about Christian music, admittedly – but I do know that it can be lyrically fantastic and appeal to anyone (ala Creed, Underoath) or absolutely terrible, despite the quality of the music (ala Anberlin.) Relient K fall into the first category, which is perhaps what’s best about their music. It’s uplifting and rejuvenating and be taken in a religious or non-religious way, without sounding as if the band have their nose deep inside their local Vicar’s arse. No offense to religious types, of course. If you ask me, this is a rare gift, and probably what makes Relient K such an inspiring band.
The song itself is a pleasing upbeat blend of acoustic and punk-rock that’s likely to have you singing along within the first listen. Relient K aren’t a band that will blow your mind with fantastic technical instrumentation, but they seem to make that extra effort to write “thinking moment” music (imagine a sort of running after the thing you’ve always wanted and just realized moment on Scrubs) that pulls out enough of the stops – but maybe not all of them – to result in a pretty epic and touching track. They can really sing too, and they don’t just rely on their lead singer like many bands. Relient K’s vocal harmonies are pure heaven (bad pun,) and go that extra mile to be a little tricky and clever (see I So Hate Consequences for some fantastic vocal work.) In the spirit of singer-songwritery, they don’t go particularly nuts musically, but rely more on the emotion and meaning of the music. Not a bad thing, but it won’t blow your mind if you’re more of a Dream Theater/Jimi Hendrix fan.
Still, I could spend all day writing articles, or you could just listen to it. That would be ace.
Good post! niouwhgfd