Album Review

Remember the Insyderz? In the mid- to late-‘90s they were one of the troika of relatively well-known ‘skacore‘ bands (alongside Five Iron Frenzy and the O.C. Supertones) that actually kept the Christian music scene on pace with the mainstream in terms of the ‘in‘ genre, the big hit-of-the-week musical fad that brought the kids flocking to the shows and buying up hoodies that you still see around town from time to time. The three acts actually toured together, the Ska Against Racism tour of 1998 or thereabouts that‘s still talked about in some circles. This was about the time bands like No Doubt and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones scored their biggest hits, but since then, well, you know what‘s happened: several other movements have had their time in the sun, and we‘ve all moved on.

Here‘s the catch: the new record from Michigan‘s finest sounds like a perfectly logical continuation of their last full-length, 1998‘s Fight Of My Life, as well as their compilations Skalleluia and Skalleluia Too, albums featuring well-known praise songs and hymns done over in the third-wave skacore sound (and trust me, you ain‘t heard ‘Amazing Grace‘ til you‘ve heard the Insyderz‘ jarring, metallic version). Soundtrack To A Revolution is battle-anthem-filled, a blazing set from a band who took a long hiatus to pursue other endeavours but simply found the pull of the stage too strong, coming back together to pump out more energetic, breakdown-heavy ska. Vocalist Joe Yerke still sounds like he gargles nails, shredding his trachea in honest expression, and the classic third-wave sounds are all here: the plinky-plinky upstroke guitar lines that roar into power-chord bonanzas, mighty stadium-worthy choruses, hyperactive horn charts, and the Rancid bass acrobatics that every ska band simply must have. Songs like the title track and ‘Call To Arms‘ leave no doubt about the band‘s intentions: they‘re under God‘s banner and they ain‘t moving, and they want you to join them. This will turn off a lot of people - heck, ‘Chosen Few‘ is even a dead ringer for that song the Supertones did with Christian contemporary queen Crystal Lewis years ago that always irritated me - but it‘s quite obvious the Insyderz aren‘t out to proselytize directly. They‘ll simply rock your face and let you make up your own mind. The lyrics are overwhelmingly upbeat, fist-pumping fare with a few slower, sentimental numbers; the idea here, at the risk of pointing out the obvious given the album‘s title, is to motivate the youth, so to speak. Hence, I gather, the big ol‘ fist adorning the cover (of the prerelease I have anyway).

Soundtrack was produced by Royce Nunley of fellow Detroit band the Suicide Machines (whose new album kills, by the way, pick that up with this here record), and while it‘s a little raw in places, and a couple of the tracks (‘Better Half‘ and ‘Testimony‘) are throwaways, the exuberance from the comeback band most fans figured were down for the count makes up for it. Check this disc out. Oh, and the end of ‘Another Sleepless Night‘ has this brief horn line - and then the sickest metal-ska breakdown ever. Yes! Bumrush the pit!