Lifesavers - "Heaven High"

Lifesavers - Heaven High
2014, Retroactive

1. Heaven High
2. All Fall Down
3. Bark Bite
4. Offed My Head
5. I Love It When
6. Dog Days of an Indian Summer
7. Oh Baby
8. Stereo Radio
9. Ocean View Lane
10. Last Spring

I've never been a huge Lifesavers-type person. My most vivid memory of them is seeing Poplife around the Christian bookstores back in the day. Recently, Michael Knott was on the Frontline Rewind podcast and he played "Heaven High" and I quite enjoyed it, so I decided to check out the album proper. It's pretty good. I guess you would kind of call it surf/pop/punk... I guess. It's pretty light and fun and while I don't come back to it over and over again it's a satisfying listen nonetheless. It's also pretty short at under a half an hour. I burn through the whole thing on the way to and from work.

Useless Fact: The picture on the cover is of St. Clare of Assisi. Her story helped influence the album.

Worldview - "The Chosen Few"

Worldview - The Chosen Few

2015, M24

1. Mortality

2. Illusion of Love

3. Back in Time

4. The Mirror

5. Why?

6. Prisoner of Pain

7. Two Wonders

8. Walk Through Fire

9. The Chosen Few

10. The Last Cry

I put off buying Worldview for quite a while after it came out. I listened to the few songs available and, despite the talent, was that impressed. However, a little bit later I started checking out the album as a whole and discovered I really did like it after all. Worldview is a project of former Deliverance/Recon guitarist George Ochoa and former Sacred Warrior vocalist Rey Perra. It sounds exactly how you might expect. It's metal that's a throwback to the heyday of Christian metal - though the modern production helps fill out the sound. It's really nice to hear Rey Perra singing again. I still don't know why he wasn't on the last Sacred Warrior album. His inclusion really makes Worldview sound a lot more like Sacred Warrior than Waiting in Darkness did. The band puts together some distinctly 80's sounding hooks in songs like "Back in Time" and "Walk Through Fire." This is not a bad thing. There are also some eastern musical influences tracks like "Mortality" and "The Last Cry." Basically, if you're a fan of late 80's/early 90's Christian metal (like I am) then Worldview is right up your alley. If not you can still enjoy Rey Perra's pipes which still sound good after all these years and Ochoa's guitar which is also stellar. So I guess you have no excuse but to buy it.

Useless Fact: Originally Rick Macias, who was the keyboardist for Sacred Warrior was supposed to be involved but tragically passed away before the project got off the ground.

Projects and Plans

Hey everyone! As you might have noticed reviews have slowed down a bit. My goal used to be to do five per month. I'm going to have to slow that down to three. Mostly because the disposable income isn't there for me to just buy CDs with. I know... I'm sad too. There's at least three albums coming out soon that I'll be reviewing: the Leigh Nash solo country album, the new Coheed & Cambria, and the new Queensryche. On deck are Worldview, Lifesavers, and Spock's Beard.

Another reason the blog has slowed down is because I've been working on more Let's Plays. For the uninitiated, a "Let's Play" is a series of videos where someone plays a game and makes commentary as he goes. Visit my You Tube channel - like, comment, and subscribe! I'll be doing this for at least a year, maybe more. Right now I've been posting videos of Monster Part and Vice Project Doom. Watch and enjoy!