Reviewed by Andrew Rolfe

Each of the 10 songs is a sleek, carefully designed and lavishly decorated carriage on a sound train powering forwards at 700 mph, whisking us up and off on an exciting musical journey. I challenge you to put this CD in your player and not listen to it the whole way through immediately...and then again. News flash: Humans in immediate danger of eternal extinction. One hope exists. One hero brave and clever enough. He rescues all who call: free phone 777 J-E-S-U-S. So is the general theme of this album: "Only one hope baby; only God can save the humans now." The famed frontman of All Star United pulls no punches as he flies in the face of political correctness that seems bent on removing everything of God and the Bible from sight. His lyrics come as thick and fast as the smoothly addictive pop/rock that pulses out of the speakers; and they're funny enough to grab your attention and hold it: "When you claim there's a God whose objectively true it's taboo"; "When we sneeze could we please drop the 'God Bless You'". "American Idle" is the seventh song, the title providing another taste of the man's dry wit.and it might just work: using humour to shake us into awareness of a serious situation. It's getting increasingly problematic to be a believer in Jesus in the "enlightened west": "God isn't really dead, He's under house arrest. Will Amnesty protest? Naw I don't think so." Ian says on his website that he's pretty unique in the world of angst-ridden rock in that he's happy with his life right now. This shines through, lending the album a positive, upbeat character as well as tempo: "Take my life take it all...take my dreams set me free, let your mercy catch me as I fall into your arms again." "I want to tell the world of Jesus and his love." Every song is a message. Humour-ridden monologues on salvation ("Save The Humans") and political correctness ("Taboo") provide welcome a breath of not-taking-yourself-too-seriously fresh air. We are encouraged to share our faith ("Amplified") and shown the emptiness of replacing God in our lives with stuff we can buy or watch on TV ("Throw It Away"). Ian spent 10 months tweaking and fine tuning and the result: is an album which is pressed-down, shaken together and flowing over with vibrant rock/pop tunes. Grunge guitar, overdrive and thrashing drums feature as do quieter electric melodies. Ian's not afraid of dipping into various flavours of the rock genre: wall of sound, droning guitar background, flange-driven acoustic guitar with his distinctive vocals. Get this album.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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