Day 8: Kutless - Sea Of Faces

If you have listened to music for more than, say, ten years, then you have seen styles come and go at a whiplash pace and trends cycle through like the passing of the seasons. What was once cool might seem dated to you now. Take for instance Hair Metal music. I missed this trend (thankfully) and when I see a picture of a band in spandex with hairspray coming out of their nostrils I can't help but laugh. It all seems so over-the-top and ridiculously dramatic that I can't believe anybody ever took it seriously.

But oh boy, did they ever. You may know a couple of folks who never made it out of this stage of life. They might still have the big hair and ripped denim going on, and of course they still blast Poison after all these years. I know a few of these folks and I worked at a concert venue recently where they came out of the woodwork to see The Scorpions or Motley Crue when they lumbered through town.

All that to say that I have seen many a fad come and go, and I have tried my best to understand the appeal of a certain genre or style. So far only Top 40 Country music and most rap music have eluded me (and I think I'm done trying with those two).

When I went to college in the 90's, grunge and jangly folk-rock were all the rage. Anything I could pull out my guitar to and play along with I really dug. I still wear flannel (I wearing a flannel shirt right now) and I love literate, jangly artists like R.E.M. and The Counting Crows (who each made one of my favorite records of all time).

But when I went back to college a few years later to finish out (after a needed stint in the U.S. Air Force, it's good to have focus in your life) music had changed big time. Gone were the jangly guitars and literary references (like in "Rain King" by the Counting Crows) and in it's place was hard, hard music. Screaming, angry, often massively profane, hard music.

It was all around me and I didn't get it. I suppose this was my first brush with adulthood. It's like Grampa Simpson who said "I used to be with it, but then they changed what 'it'was. Now what's 'it' seems weird and scary."

That year I went back I bought this album on the recommendation of a guy in my dorm ("I'll throw the old guy down the hall a bone" he must have thought).

I really liked it, and now I see it's not all that hard after all.

Kutless hails from the Portland, Oregon area and sounds a lot like Creed on this album. The low-end vocals (a tip of the hat to Mr. Eddie Vedder) and crunch of the guitars are classic post-grunge, but the lyrics (mostly of the well-meaning, youth group friendly kind) are very well done.

Having worked in high schools for a few years now, I know that being a teenager is rougher than when I had the pleasure to be one. The pressures are greater (thank you Internet) and a group like Kutless who would address issues like cutting, peer pressure, loneliness with heart and sincerity is to be commended.

"All Alone" the second track, has a great melody and the title track "Sea Of Faces" is a fantastic reminder that the Lord sees everybody. If you take the Bible for what it says (a matter of faith, but backed up by good research on my part) the Lord sees everything, and wants everyone to be connected back with Him. You are not just one more in "a sea of faces", but someone who God loves and sent his son to redeem by dying on the cross.

That love is a message I wish for all teens to hear, that they are loved by God no matter what.

Well done Kutless. 4 stars.