Reviewed by Ian Bosworth

May God save us from always wanting to move on to new things - too many high quality choruses for instance are passed by after a few months of popularity. On the other hand, let's not dwell on the past. Sadly London based Medals do just that with a fair impersonation of Spandau Ballet featuring soundalike vocals, bass, keyboards and rhythm guitar. The lyrics have a specific Christian content, but there's nothing special to make me want to listen to the six-track cassette again. The (repetitive) chorus of "Set Me Free From My Apathy" does anything but that. Certainly the five members of the band could play tolerably well in small venues - in fact they probably sound much better live than in the studio. There are doubtless hundreds of bands in the same position that may have a loyal band of fans from their home churches, but should they not be striving to be innovative and more contemporary? If the purpose of playing is to evangelize, or even entertain, then the material must me ...relevant to the audience. Let's have some more musical individuality. Medals - you can obviously play the instruments, so make them communicate more than mere competence. 

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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