When you release an album as stellar as Dens' 2020 post-rock masterpiece Taming Tongues -- this writer's #1 album of last year -- it may seem like an unwise task to revisit or reimagine; why tinker with near-perfection? The album, pulsing with incredible intensity and heavy dynamics, and lyrical concept lamenting the destructive ways in which we communicate (or fail to), was released in early March of last year, only a week before the COVID pandemic began to seriously upend our daily life. As the chaos of 2020 continued to unfold, those lyrics proved more and more essential as all aspects of society -- the Christian church certainly no exception -- saw continuing deterioration of positive communication in favor of hostility and foolishness, and the album's message of "Even foolish men are wise when they learn to keep quiet" seemed prescient...

The past few years have seen some significant growth for the Tooth & Nail / Solid State family. Not only are they releasing some of their best music in years, but they’re growing the roster with a lot of newer and established talent, as well as some indie darlings (like Tigerwine and Lifelong). The Undertaking! is the next to join the ranks, and they come out of the gate swinging hard with Funeral Psalms.

I tend to stay away from pre-release singles until I can hear them for the first time in their proper context (within the album). But I happened to catch the quick teaser for The Undertaking!'s signing announcement and I was floored by the little snippet I heard. So I listened when they dropped "Oh, Negative." I was very impressed with what I thought sounded like the next generation of The Ongoing Concept...

Perfect Love is the latest studio album by worship artist and guitar virtuoso Lincoln Brewster. Although he often doesn't stray from typical fluffy radio pop, several songs stand out musically and lyrically. This is especially true in the triumphant "Who am I," the bluesy "Let Me Love You," and the hymn-like "If Not for Christ." These tracks show Brewster going back to the basics, and the result feels much less artificial than the radio-ready tracks. The lyrics of these three songs also get back to the basic message of the gospel, with Brewster declaring in "Who am I"...