Grace Hotel
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Album Reviews

It's an album, to be sure. The first track is a ominous reading dealie, explaining the plot of the CD. CDs do have plots, you know. Anyhow, this space ship, the Gloria, pulls an Apollo 13 and vents gasses. Everyone is all worried, so they decided to make an album. The first song, "Sun Also Rises," is a song about hope, for when things look dark, the sun will rise someday. "Mercury" is another plot progression dealie, complete with newsish music and voice! "Enamel" is a self-aware rant against the lead singer's former fiancee, who left him, apparently. Features a bizarre Spanish part. "Anastasia" is about the replacement Fiancee, though it is far less cynical then everything else on this CD. "Titan" puts your right back in your depression-induced fog, with the least hopeful lyrics on the whole thing ("Destroy, Divide, The dark, Inside"). "Gemini" is another news segment. Decent, as long as you don't mind the fact it isn't a song. The CD moves along at the current pace until "Heart Still Beats," which a) is sung by a different guy and b) features turntable scratching during the second verse. It belongs in my favorites because it is so different from all the other songs. The rest of the CD does little to stand out, so they are not reviewed individually. In the end, everything works out, they see the daylight, and all is good. Overall, a tad repetitive, but it does the astro-space-pop-rock genre a world of good.

~ Nick

Inherit in the music industry is the need to put everything into a box. Unfortunately, music fans miss out on good artists when they don’t fit a particular mold. The four-man band called Brave Saint Saturn delivers a solid rock performance with a commitment to their spirituality. Mainstream fans have been privy to this brand of music in small amounts in the form of bands like Jars of Clay and P.O.D. The Light of Things Hoped For continues to broaden the frontier of spiritually based rock music. Throughout The Light of Things interludes pay homage to significant strides and failures of America’s space program. No doubt those ebbs and flows are symbolic of the twist and turns our lives make in our endless efforts to be happy and do the right thing. “The Sun Also Rises” is the optimistic introduction to the band. “I believe the sun also rises….driving the dark away.” “Binary” is a softer melody that places acoustic instrumentation with drum programming to produce a pop friendly sound. Songs of personal faith are the driving force here. Especially poignant is “Estrella,” which tells the story of faith that is eclipsed by the faith of another facing, what appears to be, insurmountable circumstances. Love songs are commonplace place in rock music, but love is more of the operative word for Christian rock artists. “Anastasia” is the tribute to woman who brings light to world with just a smile. She is surely part of the light Reese Roper sings about throughout his lyrics. In the end, Brave Saint Saturn doesn’t break any new ground with their latest release. They do, however, make good on Christian rock’s ability to do just that. This is a four- man band of solid musicians and in the spirit of many great songwriters, they reach a universal understanding with very personal lyrics.