The Glorious Revolution (CD - 2007)

Additional personnel: Cameron Shepherd, James "Nard" Rosser, Chad Lister, Seth Lister, Christina Vickman, Nina Coyle, Andrew Olander, Jennifer Bass, Claire Helring, Mike Althuis, Amy Fogleman Chamberlin, Matt Owen, Eric Parker, Andrew Bennett (vocals); Matthew Minor, Steven Bedingfield (guitars); R.T. Bodet (bass guitar); Joshua Fenoglio, Brett Vargason (drums).

The pulsing, kinetic sound that vaulted the Rocket Summer and the David Crowder*Band to the top of Christian rock charts apparently was contagious. It spread south down Interstate 35 from the homes of these heavyweights to find the next big thing from Texas -- San Antonio's Grey Holiday. Longtime friends Matt Minor (vocals/guitar), Steven Bedingfield (guitars/programming), R.T. Bodet (bass), and Josh Fenoglio (drums) had gigs fall in their laps practically while they were still honing their craft. Christian listeners who had their fill of Casting Crowns, MercyMe, and countless Brit-pop knockoffs had no problem sinking their teeth into this sumptuous serving of modern rock. Without gimmicks, the quartet's earnestness was its strength on tracks like "Let Go" and "Where You Want Me." The worship element of The Glorious Revolution doesn't take a back seat so much as it is comfortably dressed up in a magnetic soundscape of guitars and heavy beats. The bandmembers described their sound to be somewhere between Maroon 5 and Muse, which is an expanse wide enough to drive a truck through. It may raise eyebrows to note Jason Ingram's appearance as co-producer, since he made his name working with toned-down pop acts like Bebo Norman and Rush of Fools. However, the band trusted that he could bless a full-throttle rock record with his Midas touch, and Ingram delivered. He showed impressive chops by not only producing, but by co-writing every song. A downside is the album's length, a mere six tracks recorded with the promise of "new music, more often" -- meaning that the band committed to release another project within ten months and attempted to make up for the lack of music with multimedia material on the disc (mostly videos and an extended band interview). The Glorious Revolution is a surefire buzz-builder, an intriguing yet unfortunately short release by a band to watch over the coming years. ~ Jared Johnson minimize