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Review Summary: A theatrical American Christian power metal album? And the biggest surprise is that it's good. It's rare to hear relevant power metal in 2011, it's unusual to see grandiose power metal groups from America, it's bizarre to note brazenly Christian lyrics in power metal, and it's unheard of to witness all of this in one album. It's almost a shame the music is so good, as a glance at the lyrics show Theocracy a poster boy for every complaint leveled at both power metal and Christian rock lyrics. As the band's name would suggest, Theocracy's lyrics are cringe-worthy at their best and offensively ignorant at their worst, but they're presented in such a catchy and refreshing context that you won't care. The band shows a fairly high level of technical prowess and musicianship, even for power metal. Much more importantly, however, especially in this oft-stagnant genre, the songwriting is a step up from a typical power metal release. Theocracy don't experiment with odd-time signatures, atypical or atonal scales, or other progressive metal mainstays, but nonetheless take a very prog-power approach to their music, using juxtaposition of disparate musical passages and venturing into longer song lengths.
The music is highly derivative, yet it is well composed. No musical idea on this passage hasn't been thoroughly explored by countless power metal and heavy metal groups, but Theocracy have cherry-picked excellent influences from across the power metal spectrum and slide from influence to influence frequently enough in each track to keep songs interesting. The lack of overreliance on any particular style or technique is the key component to this release's success; choirs, 'symphonic' keyboards, neoclassical bits, Iron Maiden/ Helloween/ Sonata Artica-worship, etc., are all frequently present, but generally manage not to outstay their welcomes or push the cheesiness to intolerable levels. The vocals demonstrate a good range and take a stylistic middle ground, utilizing a very clean style that is neither particularly aggressive nor overly operatic. His style is likely to strike fans of either camp lukewarm, and the lack of variety makes them a bit tiring by the end of the disc. Fortunately, the vocal melodies are usually quite catchy. Overall, lyrics aside, this release is a highly derivative but well-written power metal album that doesn't surpass its inspirations but does compliment them well.
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How dare you overshadow Pizza. He'll have your meat for that!!
Yeah I'm F'n around.
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
One thing you forgot to mention: many of the riffs on this album were originally used as weapons in the Israelite conquest of the Promised Land. I also disagree with the observation on the lyrical quality, even moving past my bias towards Christian lyrics; Matt has some quite intelligent observations and doesn't always beat someone over the head with the song meanings.
Tracks 5 (music about music = win), 8 and 9 are my three favorites.
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so, is there anything specific that separates christian metal from non, other than the lyrics? this is beginning to bother me.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
yea I've never really understood why everyone points it out either
Album is really good tho m/
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
Tyrannic: Not generally, although the REAL Christian bands, those with true commitments to Christ, tend to have the best music simply because they construct the music to deliver serious, deeply personal and life-changing subject matter. Classic, power and extreme metal seem to be the most popular Christian metal scenes; a shame there aren't too many progressive bands in the scene, though many of the most popular groups, including Dream Theater and Shadow Gallery, have a significant tint of faith.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
yea, nice post jybt.
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i mean, ok, what about Brand New's Jesus, which really kind of meanders and wonders about jesus and faith? even if they don't end up praising christ to the highest, does it still refer to itself as christian?
i guess my real question would be what, musically, defines the genre? post rock has its slow builds, electronic has its own tones, etc. what is the difference between the bible passages and the nonsense that dragonforce's guy is yelling? I don't have some sort of vendetta or malicious intent, i'm just curious.
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
"Christian" music is simply that with the chief intent of evangelism or ministry, of some type or another. Some bands are out there for praise, some evangelize and tell people about Jesus and the sacrifice He made to save the world and its people from their sins, some speak against social problems and injustices by offering a Christian solution, some are meant to inspire Christians walking in faith, etc; the list of lyrical topics, musical styles and forms of ministry isn't really limited by anything, as it all depends on what God wants a band to accomplish and how. Thinking from my perspective, God can't be limited to just one style of music or aspect of life; He can work anywhere, through anything, in any way.
So, technically, there is no particular musical definition of Christian music except its genre label (Christian metal is only defined by "metal", redundancy WIN), and the only specific lyrical criterion is that it has something to do with promoting Christianity. Hope that helped.
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hm.. alright.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
Since this is a good review, I won't shank you today. ;) pos
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
I know this is a dead thread, but I suppose a late reply's still better than none. I certainly don't
consider Christian rock or Christian metal to be genres (with the exception of CCM I suppose); I
mention it only because it is in this case relevant to the quality of the lyrics. Plenty of bands
write well-penned lyrics about Christianity, and I wouldn't/don't tend to specifically mention the
theme if it is presented with average or above average quality.
This case, however, is difficult to ignore, with lyrics presenting arguments like "the fact that
children do not specifically need to be taught to lie proves the doctrine of original sin", tired
imagery like Jesus' footprints in the sand, and melodrama ("Day and night - [like] Jekyll and Hyde
in the fairytale, but this is much more frightening") throughout the whole of the disc. For the most
part, the lyrics are either poorly thought out or cliched, expounding doctrine rather than
discussing applications or personal examples or exploring any interesting questions. And it's all
done with the over-the-top cheese typical of power metal lyrics and imagery.
I should also note that while exceptional lyrics can sometimes cause me to increase an album's
rating, I don't deduct for poor lyrics unless I'm already torn between two possible ratings. In this
case, that wasn't necessary; I think this album is solidly a 3.5/5, with or without its lyrics.
Edit: Let me know if you think I should formalize these thoughts and put them in the review. I
realize my review was brief, and since I specifically mentioned that the lyrics were poor, some
examples and details might've been warranted.
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lyrics aside, this sounds really good
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
people complaining because there is christian lyrics lol
if this isn't good lyrics what is
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
Hope they release some new music soon. I need my Theocracy fix.
I could see how people might not appreciate the lyrics, but once you have the historical and theological context they just get better and better.
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i am is such a banger. the biblical story is interesting too, even if you don't believe that way.
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