Critical Mass

Item: Grasping for Hope in the Darkness
Author: Freddie Odom

Grasping for Hope in the Darkness

Reviewed by Freddie Odom

Apple Music TIDAL Amazon Music Spotify

Label independentThe Phantom Tollbooth2005

alternative rock ccm hard rock

I first heard of Critical Mass a few years ago when, out of curiosity, I typed "Catholic Rock Band" into Google. However, I admit that I didn't listen to any of their music until today.

The band definitely has a lot of artistic merit...this entire album is based on the Grasping for Hope in the Darkness comic book, which is available on the band's website. The comic book, drawn in pencil by bandmember David Wang, is actually what we would refer to as a "tract" in evangelical Protestantism. (The difference is: unlike Jack Chick's infamously scary tracts, David Wang does not appear to hate Catholicism.)

The band is also a friend of literacy (the second track on the album is based on the book Dorian Gray, according to the liner notes) and really wants to make a point. Throughout the album, they do battle with: pornography, explicit lyrics, the legality of abortion, sex education, condoms, the abuse scandal in the Catholic church, judgmentalism, the Jesus Seminar, and... leftist Christian politicians?

Not only did they do all of that; they managed to fit music onto the CD as well. The music sounds very much like CCM, and it is... a lot of it was written for World Youth Day, a Canadian youth conference. However, I've been waiting for a Christian band to cover "Carry On Wayward Son." They did it, and your band didn't.

Overall, a very strong effort.

4 tocks