Some Kind of Zombie (CD - 1997)

Audio Adrenaline: Mark Stuart (vocals); Bob Herdman (guitar, keyboards, background vocals); Tyler Burkum (guitar); Will McGinniss (bass, background vocals); Ben Cissell (drums, percussion).

Additional personnel: Matt "Mojo" Morginsky (vocals); Carlos Pennell, Barry Blair (guitar); Supertones Superhorns (horns); Jeanette Sullivan (background vocals).

Supertones Superhorns: Dave Chevalier (tenor saxophone); Darren Mettler (trumpet); Dan Spencer (trombone).

Recorded at Ardent Studios, Memphis, Tennessee; Shakin' Studios, Franklin, Tennessee.

SOME KIND OF ZOMBIE was nominated for a 1999 Grammy for Best Rock Gospel Album.

Personnel: Matt Morginsky, Mark Stuart (vocals); Bob Herdman (guitar, keyboards, background vocals); Barry Blair, Tyler Burkum, Carlos Pennell (guitar); Dave Chevalier (tenor saxophone); Darren Mettler (trumpet); Dan Spencer (trombone); Ben Cissell (drums, percussion); Jeanette Sullivan, Will McGinniss (background vocals).

Audio Mixer: Skidd Mills.

Recording information: Ardent Studios, Memphis, TN; Shakin' Studios, Franklin, TN.

Illustrator: Brad Talbott.

Photographer: John Falls.

Some Kind of Zombie continues Audio Adrenaline's hot streak, offering another set of super-charged, funk-punk with religious overtones. Unlike last time, the group's Christian beliefs are underneath the surface, but that's not necessarily a bad thing -- their beliefs are delivered forcefully through the heavy, muscular music. The group improves with each record, delivering tougher, catchier riffs and sharper performances, and Some Kind of Zombie is no exception to the rule. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

As part of a new wave of Christian rock groups, Audio Adrenaline brings aggression and hipness to the genre, helping to reinvent religious music as we know it. With guitar-heavy arrangements reminiscent of Smashing Pumpkins, retro keyboard atmospherics, and, in singer Mark Stuart, a frontman who's equal parts prophet and pin-up, SOME KIND OF ZOMBIE converts the religious intensity of Gospel music into modern rock angst. Dispelling the common preconception that religious music needs to be square or preachy, Audio Adrenaline replaces hellfire and brimstone with the decidedly more accessible themes of alienation and disenfranchisement.

Though the thematic intent of the anti-Darwin song "Original Species" is more than obvious (and less than secular), the religious messages on SOME KIND OF ZOMBIE are more universal than one might expect from a Christian rock band. From the wistful nostalgia and thick groove of "Chevette" to the rage of the title track, Stuart and company combat the apathy inherent in so much of modern rock with a powerful, positive message of hope. Stuart puts his message in the terms of his generation with songs like "Superfriend," with its wildly varying tempos and the dramatic anthem "God-Shaped Hole." minimize