BTA "Celestial Completion"-(Review)

Becoming the Archetype's "Celestial Completion"

really starts off with

"The Magnetic Sky"

Here at the end...

Here at the end of the world, planets fall and we are rising, soul and sky are magnetizing.

Oh... Here at the end of the world, we are witnessing together the inception of forever.

Time begins to bend, and then it breaks. When it’s all gone, we’ll be movin’ on, movin’ on.

Rising. Movin’ on. Magnetizing. Movin’ on. Movin’ on.

We are rising. Movin’ on. Magnetizing. We’ll be movin’ on.

Lift the earth and like a wave carry us to shore.

What a perfect, what a beautiful emptiness. And we will live forevermore.

"The Magnetic Sky" is one of my favorites on the album, and is a good feeler for the rest of the album. it's a little different then most Metal but at the same time isn't a drastic change to the genre. It has a good tempo and the mix of some clean vocals is nicely done.

The next song is…

"Internal Illumination"

Don’t believe your eyes. Don’t accept the obvious.

Don’t believe your eyes. Don’t accept the obvious.

The light is growing brighter. Time is a face upon the water.

The light is growing brighter. Time is a face upon the water.

Engage. Turn out the light. Internal illumination.

And see, the earth is bright, with internal illumination.

Internal illumination. Internal illumination.

"Internal Illumination" is ok, not a favorite of mine on the album by any stretch of the imagination. to be honest it's really just kind of blah..

The next song is called….

"Path of the Beam"

The crooked path is becoming straight as we move toward perfection.

That old black rider ever chasing no longer sets the direction.

We ride on a beam of light, on a wave of pure precision.

Our souls arise in endless flight and we are one in perfect fusion. Oh...

We ride into the atmosphere and leave the world behind.

Ride because the end is here. No force on earth can hold us down.

I love "Path of the Beam" the opening is great, love

the drum beat leading into the first vocals sung, and the first vocals themselves are lyrically killer, and absolutely true. To me this song is a perfect blend of metal and the experimenting that BTA does through their music. A favorite for sure.

"Music of the Spheres:Requiem Aeternam I"

is just an instrumental, a beautiful one at that.

"Elemental Wrath: Requiem Aeternam II"

All the earth is silent. The universe has shifted.

Creation holds its breath as the curse of death is lifted... lifted.

All the earth is silent. The universe has shifted.

Creation holds its breath as the curse of death is lifted.

"Requiem Aeternam II" has some killer guitar work, and I like the way it starts off. it's actually a song that really transforms through out, and actually seems quite all over the place. At 4:09 the song completely gives off a different vibe then again at 5:02 the piano kind of has this NIN vibe to it then that also switches up until it goes into an awesome send off at 7:05. Lyrically the ending is my favorite part of the song, but the whole song in general does have it's moments.

"Xenosynthesis: Requiem Aeternam III"

Soli Deo Gloria. Soli Deo Gloria. You can’t save yourself.

Enemies are rising up against the light, yet it will go on shining even in the darkest night.

"Xenosynthesis: Requiem Aeternam III"

has what I would call an "interesting sound" and for the record "Requiem Aeternam" means "Eternal Rest" and the part in this song where you hear the latin esque opera lady singing "Soli Deo Gloria" that means glory to God alone, which makes me love the song even more.

"Invisible Creature"

is another instrumental but only 41 seconds long,

a middle eastern sitar kind of vibe. I love it and I think it's a great opening to the next song..

"Cardiac Rebellion"

From somewhere in the darkest depths, within the cloth of secrets kept, Out of silence death maintained, resounds a voice that shakes the frame. Listen now unto the call, like nothing heard before. Living hearts begin to crawl, bursting forth through stubborn flesh. The invisible nature is taking over,

taking over from within. The invisible creature is breaking through, breaking through the skin. Oh... Hey! Clear the way! It’s a revolution! Cardiac rebellion! Hey! Clear the way! It’s a revolution! Cardiac rebellion!

I hear a lot of people give "Cardiac Rebellion" flack for it's mixing of the ska music style, I thought it was pretty refreshing on the album and quite like it.

"Reflect\Refract"

All light... All the lights are burning bright.

All our bodies taking flight. The shadows cast are evidence,

there is a deeper world than this. Hearts like candles light the way,

turning darkness into day. Let us all this light absorb until at last we are no more. Flesh is dissolving in the light,

soaking the soul in radiation. (radiation) The pathogens take hold at once and begin the transformation. (transformation) Father of lights, shine upon us here.

Take the darkness from our hearts, make it disappear. Father of lights, shine upon us here.

Take the darkness from our hearts, make it disappear.

"Reflect\Refract" for the clean vocals and cool guitar style starting at about 3:10 is definitely a favorite on the album for me, and also the very ending vocals are awesome…

Break me. Remake me, a mirror that reflects Your glory. Break me. (Break me) Remake me, (Remake me,) a mirror that reflects You perfectly.

The final song…

"Breathing Light"

See the artificial light now. It’s flickering, fading away. Eternity is right now. (Come on!) It is fusing with today. Breathing light. We anticipate. Breathing light.

Or suffocate. See the darkness that conceals you.

Evaporating, exposing the soul. And as the light reveals you, (Come on!) let it in,

let it take control. As death corrupts, beauty is revealed, as the whole world falls apart. (souls are healed) As death corrupts, beauty is revealed, as the whole world falls apart. (souls are healed)

"Breathing Light" lyrically is the best song on the whole album, and musically has this hardcore metal sound mixed with classical beauty, Chaos to put it simply is really the whole album in a nutshell..

Celestial Completion by BTA is highly reviewed by most mainly because of the creativity of BTA, no doubt they do take some diverse steps, and I think thats great and find myself actually liking songs like "Cardiac Rebellion" that most find to weird. While I like songs like

"Magnetic Sky" "Path of the Beam" "Reflect\Refract" and "Breathing Light", I find myself disappointed that more didn't stand out to me, I really can't say this is a must have album, unless you are looking for something different in the metal scene. To me it's somewhere between good and great which is why it gets a 3 1/2 from me.

Lecrae "Rehab: The Overdose"-(Review)

Lecrae released Rehab in sept of 2010,

and now just recently he has released Rehab

"The Overdose". Now if you read my review of Rehab,

you know I loved that album, it had a lot of great songs,

so how will an album that has been released just

four months later sound? how will it stack up?

Forgive me, again…not a HUGE rap fan..so I'm

not on top of all the new releases. So when I

just found out that Lecrae released another album,

I was like..Already? needless to say I wasn't expecting much, but this album does go along quite well with

Rehab story wise.

Starting off with the opening song "overdose" I was

blown away, the album starts off with a bang, "overdose"

has quickly become a favorite Lecrae song of mine.

The lyrics are amazing, and the beat is not bad,

Same thing can be said for "More" which is the very

next song. In fact the first couple of songs are

harder then anything you'll find

on Rehab. the third song "Battle Song" features Suzy Rock who was on one of my favorites from last album

called "high" and once again She and Lecrae kill it.

Another good song is called "Blow your High" it's

a slow beat but the chorus is really catchy. There's a total of 10 songs on this album and I absolutely LOVE

5 of them, just my preference.

Comparing this to Rehab, there were

more songs on Rehab, and if any complaint I can make

more diversity. Nothing on "Overdose" is drastically

different from Rehab, some of the beats are harder and what not but nothing major.

I think "Rehab: The Overdose" is a great effort,

and is shockingly great considering it's quick release.

If you Like "rehab" like I did, I would think you would like

"The overdose" too... but, and although I said it's not

drastically different, the songs I like on "Overdose"

are indeed the songs that have a harder sound then

what was found on "Rehab". lyrically the album is

all about directing your focus onto God, just like

Rehab was, and maybe in some aspects this album

deals with certain issues better like Drugs/Anger/

fame and fortune.

I think I'll put it like this,"rehab" is a must have album, "Overdose" isn't quite that, a couple songs I could say are must haves but not the whole album. Don't get it

twisted "Overdose" is not bad at all, in fact

in some aspects I like Overdose more then Rehab.

Listen worthy songs are:

"Overdose,Blow your High, More, Chase That"

4 out of 5

Lecrae "Rehab"-(review)

Lecrae's newest album is called "Rehab" and it has been out for awhile now,

and I absolutely love it! I've heard a lot of Lecrae songs, but this

is actually the first full album that i've purchased.

I've said it before, "I'm not a huge rap fan"…but man I love Lecrae/Flame/C-lite

and Jesus Disciple. You can just feel the Holy spirit igniting that fire

while they write their rhymes. The first song on the album is called "Check in"

and it's about checking into "Rehab" I.E surrendering all you are to

Christ(to put it in very simple terms) I love the beat and the lines

"I like the feel but HATE the taste of the product like the numb on your tongue

when you taste narcotics"

"I'm ready for Rehab just do what you gunna do"

The very next song is called "Killa" it's easy to see that the song is about

the temptation of sin, I thought it was very well produced. "Divine Intervention"

featuring J.R follows "Killa", and it also is a fantastic song I love the lines..

"ignorant that our decent lead to hell fire, and when I yell fire they tell me

"False alarm" because they don't smell the smoke and they don't sense the harm/

theres something worse then the black plagues comin/ and nothing under the

sun can save us from it. "

once again the very next song also stands out, it's softer but is a great song

called "Just like You"(Featuring J.Paul) really nothing else needs to be said about it, very good song. By the way this album, at least the version I got off Itunes,

has 17 songs, honestly not many albums now adays have more then 10.

A lot of the songs on "Rehab" are actually quite good, so it would probably

be faster if I just named the "Lack luster songs"…but I wont..

The next song that stood out to me was "Used to do it too"(Featuring KB)

I like the beat and overall flow to the song, by the way it's a nice song to listen

to while you are bombing through some powder on the mountain =)

just saying… probably my favorite line is..

"But I aint fix myself aint turn myself around, I gave it up and told the Lord He can

have it now"

the next song is called "Children of the Light" and it stood out to me because of

who it featured "Sonny Sandoval"(dude from P.O.D) but honestly for me

the song is disappointing and would be a song I'd file under "Lack-luster"

The very next song however just might be my favorite on the album, it's called

"High" and features Suzy Rock, very cool bass beat.. and rhymes enough said.

"i'm illuminated open up my eyes

now the Spirit showin me the Word is alive

i was so low, now i'm so high

regenerated mind telling me that i'm alive

and it's workin, i'm so certain

confident He created me for a purpose

somewhere in-between the jeans that yall jerkin

and them khakis that ganstas work-workin

no purpose sir so worthless

i catch re-real contact when i worship "

Im crank-cranked up like i'm poppin no dose

no dose, homie don't sleep

world full of them sheep with the sharp teeth

don't don't start me, on that lighter fluid

"40 Deep" is the next song that stands out to me first because

it features "Tedashii and Trip Lee" and also because the beat

is beast, absolutely love it.

"God is Enough" features Flame and Jai and really stands out to me

because of the chorus and Lecrae's rhymes for example..

You know you sick of lookin', you sick of chasin'

I think you know the truth, you just don't wanna face it

Your life is empty, though you havin' fun

You never satisfied, you never get enough

You go from thrill-seekin' to pill-poppin'

From heavy drinkin' to club-hoppin'

You just can't stop it, like you're a slave

And you chasin' nothin' all the way into the grave

The next song that stood out and the first song that I heard before I got the album is called "Background" featuring C-Lite, it's soft for sure…

but is absolutely relatable and makes me just nod my head through every line, my second favorite on the album.

overall "Rehab" is an amazing album from Lecrae..I can't compare

it to an older album of his because like I said this is my first full

album from him. Godly rhymes with killer beats..

5 out of 5

Flame "Captured"-(Review)

Flame's newest album "Captured" is plain and simple a solid album,

filled with TRUTH and lyrically could be one of Flame's strongest

albums to date. Is it all around his best album though? is it even

debatable?

Right off the bat the album kicks off with the song "Recaptured"

it's not hard hitting beat wise, but lyrically starts the album off

strong and is a cry to wake up, and is really the standing

theme through-out the album. The theme as the album is titled

is being "Captured" and as with every Flame album i've had the

pleasure to listen to, it makes you think and urges you to

truly have a "surrendering" relationship with Christ Jesus.

speaking of surrendering, "Surrender" is the second track, and

is probably the first song that really stands out, for me it was at least.

it features V.Rose and I absolutely love the meaning of the song and

the lines

"Jesus here's my white flag

I surrender right now"

V.Rose rocking the chorus is great.

The next song while listening through that stands out to me is "Nonsense"

(which would be the 4th song) love it, and when I first listened to this song,

a lot of what Flame was talking about I was seeing in people who

profess to be "Christian" just a couple of the lines that stood out to me

were

"You don't need to trust in Jesus because he was just a man,

please don't listen to them christians they have no clue what their

saying. Now you say you hate religion because you just want to be free

say "I'mma do what makes me happy, and whatever pleases me and

whatever pleases me is exactly what i'mma do" "

Totally can relate to running into a lot of people that believe that way.

The next song that really jumped out at me was "Move" and

is really my favorite on the whole album, and is really encouraging.

"Move" is about "Moving/doing what God wants you to do"..

something I admittedly at times struggle with.

The very next song called "Put On" is a great track as well probably

mostly because it features C-lite.

So is this Flames best album? like I said, lyrically it just might be,

but overall his last album "Our World Redeemed" just had more songs that

I really enjoyed. "Captured" isn't a bad album by any means,

and is really a biblically sound album so it's hard for me to knock it.

Lets just say if you dig songs like "Go buck" or "Who Can pluck us"

"Joyful noise" or "2nd coming" from last album…you really wont

find a lot of that in this new album. lyrically it's a more mature album..

musically/beat wise.. softer then Flame's last two..

3 out of 4

Red "Until We Have Faces"-Review

RED has been a favorite rock band of mine since their first album

"End of Silence" and their second album "Innocence & instinct" was

another step in the right direction, they simply put just got better and

more polished. Their latest called "Until we have Faces" is plain and simple

not a step forward, but at the same time not really a step backwards either.

"Until we have Faces" gives me the exact same feeling Skillets latest

album "Awake" gave me. It's really nothing new, it's not a sound

you couldn't find on the last album "innocence & Instinct". Really i'm

conflicted in my thoughts about it, because on the one hand

"innocence & Instinct" was and is AWESOME so is there really a need

to change? if it's not broke why fix it right? but lets get down to the

songs and my overall rating of the album..

"Until We have Faces" opens up with a song called "Feed the Machine"

really probably the best on the album and a great way to kick off the album.

honestly the first couple of songs are Red at their best "Faceless" being the

next on the track list has that typical Red sound with a catchy chorus

I'm not, I'm not myself

Feel like I'm someone else

Fallen and faceless

So hollow, hollow inside

A part of me is dead

Need you to live again

Can you replace this

I'm hollow, hollow and faceless

I dig it, good song, cool lyrics. Another good song, lyrically my favorite and

a softer song in some aspects just happens to be the next song called

"Lie to me(Denial)" Now when I listen to this song, I get the feeling that RED

is putting themselves in Gods shoes and writing/singing out to His children.

that's how I take it anyways…

Can you just turn away and let me go

Lie to me

You can feel

That this love was never real

Walk away

You can learn to love again

Lie to me

Watch me bleed

Cause I'll still be here when you see

Your not alone

You don't have to run again

Leave me in denial

All the pain you fed

Starts to grow inside

It lives again and you can't let it die

So believe you'll never find

A reason to love again

I get that same feeling when I listen to the next song "Let it burn"

which is even softer still. specially when he says "How long will you hide your face?

are you afraid?" kind of makes me think of how we try to hide our true

selves from God as If He doesn't already know. Like how God came to

Adam and Eve in the garden but they were so ashamed that they

covered their self with fig leaves and hid from God(as if you could hide from Him)

"Buried Beneath" goes with the same softer tempo as "Let it burn"

and "Lie to me" it's kind of a song that grows on me the more I listen.

"Not alone" is really your standard "Air 1" "Christian top 40 song"

and nothing wrong with that if thats what your into, but yes indeed

they stay with the softer sound with "Not Alone"….it's not a bad song,

not untruthful..it's just nothing you haven't heard 1,000 times.

thankfully for my sanity sake(im just kidding) the next song "Watch you Crawl"

picks up the pace a bit, not much but it does. decent song somewhat catchy

but nothing to really write home about. "The Outside" is more on par with

the first couple of songs and is a favorite, great song, and if I had to choose

one song off the whole album that I think RED took any steps forward in

I would say "The Outside" would be it.

"Who We Are" has a cool beat and some moments of screaming(which you wont

find a whole lot of on the album) it's an "ok song". "best is Yet to Come" is

pretty much everything "Not alone" is. The final song "Hymn for the missing"

can also be thrown into that "not alone" mix. I do like the piano though in

"Hymn for the missing" and the overall sound, and don't get it twisted I

don't have a problem with "Softer songs" it's just not really something

I think most people listen to RED for.

In the end I give "until we have faces"

3 1/2 out of 5

Nothing really new, but there are some good songs to be found non the less.