Disciple

Disciple have been around for sometime (1992, I read), but they’ve only recently come into the spotlight of Christian music’s “popular radar.” Scars Remain, while pulling off some decent hooks, wasn’t a critical darling but did garner awards. Their latest project brings the grand total of albums to seven.

Southern Hospitality is intermittently creative—with dashes of fun metallic chutzpah too often dragged down by familiar hooks. Its title track is a testament to what could have been. It’s the sort of thing Kid Rock (who I’ve admittedly criticized a lot lately) has been trying to sell: the down-home hard rocker, a marriage of metal glory and…well, meat and potatoes humanity. Unlike some of the pieces here, “Hospitality” sells the pitch without garnering an eye-rolling response or large suspension of disbelief. After all, it is a bit hard to play up a group’s “grassroots” image when cutting-edge, radio-ready sheen touch every track, but Disciple do a decent job of taking attention off of what appears to be an impressive polish, at least with the opener.

“Romance Me” isn’t so much a terrible track—frequent me-haters take note!—but its opening chord progression is dizzyingly familiar and, at least for a band that’s been around as long as these guys, its too easy and not distinctive enough. In Christian music, it’s fairly common to forgive poor songwriting because…well, frankly, we see a lot of it. Disciple, though, should be wearing their many miles and much studio time like a deserved testament to their skill. Instead, here they sound like a freshmen rock band borrowing from their hallowed “betters.” Skip it.

“321” is the kind of anthem I could see used as the soundtrack for a sporting event or Monday Night Football commercial. Boisterous, energetic, and blazing in a flurry of guitars and percussion, it could very well be the next “Boom” (remember that song, the one from P.O.D.?). It doesn’t satisfy the parts of me that want to see a deeper, more mature Disciple, but the prevalent idea is “fun, fun, fun!” In this, they are successful.

“Whatever Reason” and “Right There” are the choice ballads for this outing. Hinder and Nickelback are the primary influences: muscular production over doe-eyed lyricism and tough boy guitar riffs. The dichotomy is all too familiar and neither one of the hooks really takes off. I waited for some energy, some melodic spark that would at the very least warrant a decent radio following. While modern rock fans are probably craving this sort of thing until their favorite cookie-cutter alt.-grunge band hits the airwaves again, neither of the ballads conjures a strong enough pay-off. I don’t expect a welcome reception, but I’ve been wrong before. Only time will tell—that, and the ebb and flow of radio chart fads.

“Lay My Burdens” offers some fantastic guitar soloing, the kind of excellent musicianship that few artists ever pull off. Disciple deserve props for giving off such a blood rush with fun displays of their chops. Nice work boys! This one is a winner…

My biggest complaint with Southern Hospitality is just how “blahhh” it all sounds. The paradox is that of an undeniably talented group of hard rock artists playing sub-par songs. When left to the complexities of their individual instrumentation—devoid of hooks or radio chart-climbing—Disciple truly shine. Their musicianship is top-notch. Their canvas, however, is so familiar and uncreative that it doesn’t do their talents justice. It’s not a complete disappointment, at least not on an aesthetic front. But I can’t help but feel that these guys should have gotten a handle on their songwriting much sooner than now.

Tagged as: Disciple, Southern Hospitality

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