This Generation [ECD] [ECD]

SONICFLOOd is not one of those Christian bands -- like, for example, Jars of Clay or Creed -- that puts the music first and the message second, satisfying itself with slipping an artfully ambiguous doctrinal reference in here or there. These guys are what the CCM industry calls a "worship band," and their goal is to use music specifically as a tool to help people come to Christ. (As they put it in the title track of this, their sixth album: "This is a call to worship/This is a call to sing/This is a call to fall down on our knees before the Risen King.") That's not to say that the music feels like an afterthought -- songs like "All I've Failed to Be" and the title track are nicely crafted guitar rock with plenty of big, cathartic chord progressions and soaring melodies, and the three producers who contributed to the album were all very careful to avoid the kind of shiny, plastic surface sheen that can so easily turn devout but hardheaded rock & roll into happy-face Christian pap. These guys may play at Promise Keepers meetings, but this music feels anything but churchy. Recommended. ~ Rick Anderson