Artist Info:Discography Album length: 14 tracks: 67 minutes, 07 seconds Street Date: October 26, 1999
Talk about change. The Insyderz have changed a lot over the past
year or so. Their new album Skalleluia Too doesn't sound like Fight
of My Life or Skalleluia at all. In fact it seems that they've leaned
toward the Rock side of music with not as much ska as we're used to. The
CD opens with "Peace of God" which is a real rocker with a real fast
beat. It sounds like your average ska song. "When I Look Up" opens up
with some horns and then the guitar kicks in. When you think the
horns will come in, they don't. At least, not until near the end. The
remake of "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever" by Delirious has a piano
playing in the beginning which they've never done before. The song
really picks up during the chorus though to make it a real nice
praise-worship song and ends with the piano and broken glass in the
background.
"Shout to the Lord" starts out with a little piano, but a mean
drum beat. I love this song to begin with and is my favorite on the
album. The guitar kicks in near the end of the first verse. Even though
this song isn't very typical of the Insyderz it has the more worshipful
feel in it and picks up something real nice midway through. I love the
drum beat in this song. It's one of the best drums I've ever heard.
"Who is This?" at the beginning sounds like an oldie but a goody. It has
a real nice soothing cello in it. After the first verse the other
instruments kick in except the horns. The only horn is Bram's trumpet
during the bridge. Despite the lack of horns I think it's a beautiful
song. It's one of my favorites. "True of You" sounds a lot like
something that would of been off of Fight of My Life. I really like the
bassline throughout the song and the horns are real smooth. Joe Yerke
doesn't growl that much during the album, but he gets loud during this
song. It's a real dark song, but they still manage to keep that P&W feel
in it.
"All That I Am" has a more punk feel to it with some added horn
section in it occassionally. Joe's voice does a little growl in it. The
biggest surprise on the album, "Old Rugged Cross," is a song that I've only
listened to once because it was sent to the butcher. Sang Kim sings
lead. There isn't really anything about this song that I like. There is
a clarinet in the song that throws it off. I don't really like Sang's voice.
I think that this song was going out to Sang Kim's father who
passed away this past year. "In the Secret" sounds like your average
punk/ska song. I really like the guitar in this song. It really doesn't
stop at all, which is cool. I like the worship feel to this song. Near
the end the cello kicks in. It sounds like the part on "Awesome God" off
Skalleluia and ends real rocky. This is probably my second favorite
song.
"Psalm 121" has a conga playing in it through the song. Nate
changed from the drums to the percussion on this one. It has a real
reggae feel to it. I think they got the idea from the Supertones when
they were on tour last year. "Psalms 139" they wrote themselves. Nate
Sjogren sings lead and Joe sings backup. I like the opening because it
sounds like the Supertones, but I don't care for the vocals. "The
Steadfast Love" has a lounge feel to it, but the bass is nice. This song
is very, very mellow. If John Jonethis wanted to do a remake on this one
he'd have his work cut out for him. "Step by Step" sounds like something
straight from a churches Praise and Worship team with nothing special.
The CD ends with "Pour Out My Heart" which is a real nice slow song that
I think would be good to end a concert with. Everyone sings background
on this and it sounds like a mini-choir.
Overall the CD is a good rock/ska/punk album. It's not as good
as the first Skalleluia album. I think they wanted a more toned down
praise and worship CD with a P&W feel to it and they did. It has a lot
of my favorites on it. There are some adjustments to it. Joe's voice
sounds more mature and, musically, they've all matured. I would suggest it
because of the general feel to it and even if you're a hardcore ska fan
you'd like it because when it's straight-up ska it's good. If you don't
like ska at all you'd like it because it's not as hard as some of their
previous stuff.
- Review date: 12/4/99, written by Kevin Chamberlin
Record Label: KMG Records
Album length: 14 tracks, 67 minutes and 07 seconds
Street Date: October 26, 1999
Buy It:Amazon.com
Record Label: KMG Records
