Tune of the Week for 03/10/08 -- X-Sinner, No Way In
This tune of the week goes back to my roots a bit. I was raised on gospel music, mostly four-part harmony stuff. There are a ton of different types of gospel music, including black gospel and Southern gospel, both with which most people have some familiarity. The type I was raised on was more obscure than that, performed by groups like The Imperials and Bill Gaither. Although not always the case, it tends to be pretty sing-songy, even syrupy. I buy my dad a gospel CD every Christmas, and he loves it. Aside from a few cases, it has sentimental value for me and not much more.
By sixth grade I was looking for something that fulfilled my cravings for the raucous, and I discovered "white metal", which encompassed all styles of hard rock and heavy metal music performed by self-described Christians. Although their spiritual depth was often lacking, some of the bands I found in those days were actually pretty good (although the majority of them simply sucked). The Christianity you saw in these people was generally pretty corny and relatively in-your-face, but it was also typically very sincere.
Any more, I don't listen to a lot of blatantly "Christian" music, but I still follow a handful of bands from my early days. For example, Heather and I went to see Stryper a couple years back at the House of Blues, and the show just rocked. My favorite part of the show was watching Heather dance, and I wasn't the only one watching her. I don't think we'll ever get the 80s out of our blood.
And so, enter X-Sinner. Their sound is often compared to AC/DC, Def Leppard, and Cinderella. I hear more Cinderella than anything. That was the big thing in those days, sounding like a "secular" band. There was a band called Saint that sounded just like Judas Priest, a favorite of mine called Barren Cross that sounded like a cross between Iron Maiden and maybe Queensryche, and many, many other metal bands that just sounded like crap. Truthfully, although I wasn't aware of it at the time, I heard some of the absolute worst music I've ever heard when I was consumed by the "white metal" thing.
I recently found "Get It" on iTunes, and for the first time in my life, I bought a digital "album". Like many others I know, I form a relationship with an album, and through it, a sort of relationship with the band itself. What would Voivod be without their artwork? What would all the 80s glam metal bands be without the endless photos of themselves? Anyway, this album has been out of print for a very long time, and it was just last year released on iTunes. I broke down in a moment of literal sickness and bought it. I hope you all enjoy!
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