Transcend The World, A Christian Rock Project – “New Skin”

Transcend The World, A Christian Rock Project – “New Skin” – Single Review

I think that one of the areas where I’ve always been able to be effective in assessing music that’s built to be explicitly Christian, is from my outsider’s perspective.  I’ve made it crystal clear throughout the years on these pages of ours that, while raised with a religious background at a young age, I left it all behind a very long time ago.  I’ve also made it equally clear that our doors are open to every genre, and that I’ve always felt the combination of religion & music is still one of the more fascinating conversations you can have.  I honestly never worry about whether the faith-based community would appreciate another new addition to their catalog – I’ve heard so much of it, and I know how thin it is – so from my perspective, when something like Transcend The World, A Christian Rock Project comes in with the high level of skill it possesses, I’m worried even less.  Professionals like you’ll hear at work on a song like “New Skin” are bound to find success in whatever kind of music they would have wanted to play, so believe me when I tell ya, the faith-based community is lucky to have’em – this band has got a whole lot to offer the world.

While it’s fair to say that there is a bit of risk in the name itself somewhat narrowing the potential of its audience out there, if they’re comfortable with that, then so be it.  Objective reality would tell ya that no matter what genre or style of music you’re making, that it’s bound to appeal to some and push away others – that’s kind of the nature of the game when it comes to personal taste and whatnot.  Essentially, being overtly appealing to Christians really shouldn’t be a whole lot different than proclaiming yourself to be a Folk band, or an Electro project, so on and so on…the fans of certain styles know what they’re looking for, and they don’t really spend a whole lot of time outside of what they primarily want to listen to & engage with.  For myself personally, I’m always listening to see what the potential crossover traffic COULD be – as in, is Transcend The World, A Christian Rock Project going to only appeal to Christians, or can it in fact pull some people in from the outside, like me?  So heck yeah, I start scrutinizing right away, seeing how much nuance is involved, and listen with the perspective I came in with, which is open to everything.  As I listened to “New Skin,” I felt like this band left me with no choice but to marvel at how universally accessible this song really is.  No matter what kind of Rock you find yourself listening to on your playlists, I’m tellin’ ya, you’ve still got plenty of room to make space for a song like “New Skin” on it.  If there’s a flaw to be found here, I’m not hearing it – the musicianship is absolutely outstanding no matter which piece of Transcend The World, A Christian Rock Project you examine up close.  The music is brilliant…I love the depth of the bass, I love the way the guitars are framed around it, the drums are relentlessly steady…they truly leave you wanting for nothing more than exactly what you get.  To think that they have all this going on for them already…such a wealth of precision and creativity in their combined instrumentation, and a powerful grip on the kind of production that brings it all out perfectly within the mix…and yet, this project’s biggest asset might somehow very well be what you hear from the microphone…honestly, it’s something to behold.  Whatever Transcend The World, A Christian Rock Project has done to recruit those involved, is the part you can’t teach – this is the result of simply knowing you’ve got the right people for the right parts, and with everyone on the same page, they’ve executed to the best of their ability.  That ability is superhuman mind you, but regardless, you get the point – every player that’s a part of this project brought their A-game to “New Skin” and you can hear it.

Where I think the biggest advantage they’ve given themselves, is within their crossover potential.  I think we’ve all heard tunes that are not only religiously based, but way overboard on the Jesus factor, which can be where you really find that pigeonhole effect on the listening audience.  When you are able to broaden things out like Transcend The World, A Christian Rock Project has, you expand on that same potential, and open the doors to people outside of religion as well.  Basically, were it not for the name of this particular project, I’m confident that most listeners out there would simply view this as another great song and not associate any of the religious connotations that come along with it.  That’s not to say that they don’t exist – they do – but they’re subtly laced into this song in very smart ways that you could easily take in a multitude of directions that don’t necessarily have to be faith-based, you fee me?  Of course, they might have to discuss whether or not that’s what they’re aiming for…if they’re looking to create music that’s more direct and less ambiguous in that regard, there would clearly still be some work to do – but if they were aiming at creating lyrics that were more interpretive to each person listening in a way that they could take their own meaning from a song like “New Skin,” then mission accomplished as far as I’m concerned.  Honestly and truly, I’m nothing but impressed with this single.  I think the songwriting is spectacular, the skill level of the band is incredible, the production is solidly professional, the details within the music & solo were spot on, and the vocals fully blew me away.  To sum it all up as clearly as I can and bring it all back full circle for ya, I don’t think “New Skin” is ONLY a great song for the faith-based community – I think it’s one of the best Rock songs you’ll hear this year.

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