Grunge is happenin', baby! If you like low tunage and dirty but full guitars a la The Bleed and Promise Man-era Holy Soldier, you've found a new disc to spin. Michael Wagener did a good job of coaxing the right sounds from these guys. I'm quite attracted to this disc, with its soulful vocals and heavy riffs. The vocals sound uncannily similar to Eric Wayne's on the Promise Man album - especially in the verses to the song "Still." The band does a great job mixing melody with a current sound scape. It's melodic metal that doesn't come off as cheesy outdated music. "Little Love" reminds me in every chorus of The Brave's song of the same title. There's two bonus tracks here of note - "Hi Jo De Jose" and "Alto," which are, obviously, Spanish versions of "Joe's Son" and "Higher." Nice touch. The title track uses a powerhouse wall of BGV's for each chorus line of, "We're a nation." The lyrics on this tune are pretty indicative of the whole album - lots of Scripture, woven into thoughtful lyrics that get to the point without being trite. "Water into wine / a fish split thousand times / a broken bottle of ancient sweet perfume / the moral of these three, it's what you have, you see / given to the Lord for Him to use." If Creed can rule the airwaves today, I see no reason why Stir can't mix it up on the radio too.
Other coverage for this album
7ball #23Reviewed by Chris WellWith guitar sledgehammers and lyrical rivets, the band Stir has built a monument to man's insufficiency. It's a sort of antithesis to the Tower of Babel; while the former was intended to show the unity of man but led to the language barriers, Broken Tongues is a testament that our human words and deeds will always be incomplete without the restoring power of God. Although they wrap their hard…