ALBUM REVIEW: "Wolves" by Rise Against

Rise Against's eighth album Wolves is as politically charged and fast paced as you could come to expect from them at this stage in their career, but unfortunately it does little to stand out from the rest of their discography. If you're a die hard Rise Against fan you'll like eat this up; everything they've done well over their lengthy career is here in equal measures, but for a casual at best fan like me it was kind of tiresome getting through Wolves. Not because there's anything particular bad on it, but simply because if you've heard the rest of their back catalogue you've heard this before. Lyrically the album is one of the band's strongest, but I do have to be in the right mood before a band starts getting as aggressively and directly political as they do on Wolves.

Favourite Songs: House On Fire, Far From Perfect and Miracle

Least Favourite Songs: Welcome To The Breakdown, Bullshit, Mourning In Amerika

Rating: D

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A Response To 'Christian' Views On Secular Music

Is there such thing as music that Christians shouldn’t listen to? Should we be dismissive of music with either explicit language or sexual, violent or substance oriented themes? Should anyone even be telling anyone else what they can and can’t listen to? These are questions that are thrown around a lot in Christian circles, and given what I do here on this blog and how that overlaps with my job working for the church, I thought I would share my thoughts on this topic. I’ll say this at the outset so that we’re on the same page – I think any attempt to dictate what people should and shouldn’t listen to is stupid and disrespectful on a fundamental level. I’ll go into detail about why I think that later on, but for now here are some thoughts I have on some of the “Christian” opinions I come across pretty regularly. The first and most ludicrous thing that seems to follow me around is the idea that because I listen to underground genres, particularly on the heavy metal ...

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