Burnt Offering
The Messenger Project
Messenger Project
This album is the strangest juxtaposition of two different worlds that I could ever imagine. Lifting entire passages from the New International Version of the Bible and melding these passages with music that ranges from rock to tastefully executed acoustic strumming, these tracks run the entire gamut of musical possibility. On some tracks it works, and the music mirrors the words, on other tracks, it sounds like a real clunker. When it works, like on the selection from the Song of Songs, the track sounds like a leftover from a Cowboy Junkies album. However, this doesn’t detract from the fact that the music and lyrics find some measure of similarity to allow them to build on each other’s strengths. On other tracks, like the one that immediately follows it, the music sounds forced and strains to bear the weight of the lyrics. Using a faux funk and rhythm groove, the music lacks any of the tension or power to carry it off and instead sounds like a contrived Disney production intended to show the kids that they’re “with it.” Unfortunately, no matter how well executed, I cannot imagine why any reader of this magazine would be drawn to this disk.
