Bride
“Skin For Skin”
(Retroactive Records)

These Christians kick ass! Bride have been going for 20 years and were big during the Christian metal days of Stryper (one of them nearly replaced Michael Sweet). With a name that bears reference to the true believers in JC (and thus being married to him in the new Heaven & Earth), this trio play pure American hard rock / heavy metal with the emphasis on heavy! Although their style has varied during their career and they certainly lost their true path around the turn of the century by releasing a rapcore album (blasphemy!), 'Skin For Skin' heralds a return to the classic old sound that won them four Dove Awards from the Gospel Music Association! There's a hybrid of many classic styles here from the powerful driving rock of the title track to the throat strained dirge riffing of ‘Rise Above’ to the acoustic ballard closer of ‘Hang On’. But one common theme features throughout: Bride can play, I mean really fuckin rock and they will have you banging, fist pounding and freaking out for more like a true revelation!

-Shan Siva