Christian Rock

[Willing Spirit]

When it comes to Christian rock, I tend to go for stuff that is outside the mainstream, old school alternative, grungy, new wave, goth, psychedelic hard rock, raw blues rock, etc. Saviour Machine and Glisten are a couple of my favourite bands, but I enjoy a good number of others.

The 1960's was the first decade of Christian rock, first appearing in the U.K in the early 60's (to my knowledge). My absolute favorite from that time period is a group called The Overcomers, who put out an Ep in 1966. Love it!

The Overcomers - By The Door - YouTube

Another Christian rock act I love is Waterdeep, who come out of Nashville. First heard them on a 7Ball sampler Cd in the late 90's and was impressed. It is the last track on the Cd, immediately preceded by a funky Outsiders song. This time I'm following up The Overcomers (instead of the Outsiders) with this live recording of Waterdeep from 2001:

Waterdeep Live Sept. 15, 2001 - Motherless Child - YouTube

From southern Ontario, Canada (my region) is a group called Newworldson. They are actually mainstream, at least here in Canada, and I wasn't initially impressed with them. I still don't care for some of their songs. But I was blown away when I first heard them do a live rendition of "Pass Me Not" (a Fanny Crosby hymn). It starts off as a slow soulful song, but evolves into an all out rocker. I've yet to hear any studio music from them that matches what they can do live. They are truly a talented Christian band that stands out of the crowd. Here is their dynamite version of the hymn:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16zWfEdfgU4

Going back to the U.K is Iona, who are known for their Celtic tinged music. Some of their songs are too mellow to really be rock, but some of their material could be classified as Celtic prog rock. Another Christian band that stands out of the crowd. World class musicians. This is a live version of "Ancient Wells":

Iona - Ancient Wells [NEW SONG 2010] (Thun, Switzerland) - YouTube

Quite often I'm not impressed with the blues rock I hear from Christians, but Ashley Cleveland (who does some songs in that style) and Glenn Kaiser Band are two exceptions to the rule. Here is a blistering number from the later:

Glenn kaiser band - Young Man Blues - YouTube

The 4th Movement is another favorite of mine. Starting off as a secular 70's rock group from Detroit called "Death" (sounding like a cross between Bad Brains and Jimmy Hendrix), they eventually changed their name and put out some gospel rock in the early 80's. In their new Christian phase, they still had that Hendrix vibe, but sounded much more like Lenny Kravitz:

Christian Rock -The 4th Movement - Revelation's Eve - 1980 - gospel rock - YouTube

That's it for now. Hope to share some more favorites later on.

 

[Willing Spirit]

Good (The Golden sequence) not really my cup of tea but any Christian band / music is good . That was ok. I like how they were in my opinion discovering the combo of electronic and rock in this particular song, could I even say discovering a newer form of music in terms of the combination?

Just saw this post now. I don't know if I'd call it a newer form of music, though they do have their own sound. Their music varies. They have another track that reminds me of Gregorian Chant (to a degree), but in a slow electronic kind of way. Think it is called "Sanctus" if i'm not mistaken, one of my favorite tunes from them.

 

[star in the sky]

Actually that is more better defined their own unique sound. Cool Gregorian Chant.

 

[HadassahJoy]

Im an 8os baby and 90s kid but still love newer chrisitan music.
my oldie favs: DCtalk, Audio Adrenline(still a band) Newsboys (still a band too) Carmen, Micheal W Smith Rebecca St James, Out Of Eden, Steven Curtis Chapman,

I also like todays music like Group one crew, Toby Mac, Mandisa, Skillet, Brandon Heath, and so on

 

[Willing Spirit]

Maybe a month back I discovered a Christian group by the name of The Opiate Mass. They did electronic music (both slower and upbeat), as well as some rock and guitar oriented tracks. One of my favorite Christian music groups. A good number of their tracks can be found on Grooveshark.

I'm a bit late discovering them, since they already broke up.

I don't usually quote myself, but it turns out I was wrong about something.

The Opiate Mass hasn't broken up. The group that did break up is another group with a similar name, an Arizona post-hardcore band called Opiate for the Masses. They declared themselves to be broken up in 2009 (last decade). But The Opiate Mass from Seattle, didn't put out their first album until 2010, one year after the other band officially broke up. They have put out 4 albums so far, and the track I shared earlier is from their 2012 album. So I'm really not that late discovering them.

The confusion came from Grooveshark, who lists the information from Opiate for the Masses for The Opiate Mass. Mass confusion?

Fortunately I have discovered the songs I really wanted to share on bandcamp.

An amazing song "Psalm 13" can be found on this following link, the third track down:

Albatross | The Opiate Mass

The slower electronic piece "Sanctus" that has some of that Gregorian Chant flavor, can be found five tracks down:

Make A Sound | The Opiate Mass

Hopefully someone enjoys it.

 

[JCD1284]

I'm surprised that no one mentioned the Altar Boys yet! "Gut Level Music" is an album I can always flip on and enjoy it from start to finish.

 

[HigherGround]

Thousand Foot Krutch is absolutely mind-blowing in their awesomeness, and their love of God is apparent in their music. Same goes for Demon Hunter. There's also The Letter Black, Love & Death, August Burns Red, Devil Wears Prada, We Came as Romans, Blessthefall, Red, Decypher Down, Nine Lashes, Skillet... so many more than I just can't think of off the top of my head.