Imari Tones: Evangelizing for a religion that 99 percent of the citizens of their home country don’t espouse makes their message countercultural

…mixing Christian imagery with Japanese history and culture…

COMING BACK ALIVE

Imari Tones

Kitchen Knife Records

(release date: February 7, 2025)

Taking their inspiration from ’80s heavy metal/hair bands, Imari Tones is one of today’s hardest rocking Christian bands. That they hail from Japan, where less than one percent of the population identifies as Christian, makes their ascendance more impressive. Their mix of Christian imagery with Japanese history and culture makes them distinctive.

I’d go one step further and suggest they are closer to a Christian punk band. From their no-holds-barred vocals (now in English), outbursts of vigorous evangelical preaching, snarling guitar, scattershot melodies, and Shinryu’s anarchic drumming, Imari Tones have more in common with the Sex Pistols than Van Halen. Plus, evangelizing for a religion that 99 percent of the citizens of their home country don’t espouse makes their message countercultural.

‘Small Flame,’ Imari Tones, from Coming Back Alive

Coming Back Alive, the title of the group’s nineteenth full-length album, is not metaphorical. In June 2023, a raging fire engulfed the building where two of the power trio-Tone and Marie-were living. They were the last to evacuate, literally running through flames to escape with their lives. Although they survived, their beloved cat didn’t make it (it’s the same cat we hear on the album track, “The Cat Says Hallelujah”). Thankfully, Tone and Marie found refuge at Asao Christ Church in Kawasaki, Japan, and subsequently recorded this album there.

‘What the Devil Hates,’ Imari Tones, from Coming Back Alive

“Small Flame” and “Co-In” contain the most compelling melodies on an album that supplants conventional melody for earsplitting blasts of sound. “This Cat Says Hallelujah”–about the late cat who abandoned the flat of an angry owner to live with the two band members–is an allegorical statement that God loves everyone, “even blesses the little one like her.” May kitty be blessed in her journey over the Rainbow Bridge.

“Rock in Heaven,” a song that espouses God as love and also includes some humorous side bits between band members, is the most shredding and thrashing of the dozen cuts on the album.

Imari Tones pound hard from A to zed on Coming Back Alive, as they do on all their releases. But make no mistake: their sonic outburst does not come from a place of nihilism but from full-spirited Christian belief. The only thing I would have done was add a silhouette of a cat to the front cover drawing of the trio and a cross standing strong despite a background of flames. Maybe with wings.

Picks: “Small Flame,” “Love Wars”

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…drawing inspiration, directly and indirectly, from Psalms..

HOUSE OF DAVID: SEASON ONE

(Music inspired by the Prime Video Original Series)

Various Artists

Capitol Christian Music Group

(release date: February 27, 2025)

“Got a harp in one hand and a sling in the other,” sings veteran Christian Contemporary Music artist Chris Tomlin. This apt description of the biblical figure David opens “After Your Heart,” one of 10 songs that comprise the soundtrack to the first season of the Amazon Prime Video series House of David.

The album offers a mixture of radio-sized songs based on the Psalms and on the dramatic life and times of David, performed by today’s top-tier CCM, gospel, and pop artists. A good example is the album’s first single, “40,” for KING & COUNTRY’s “atmospheric cover of U2’s pop ballad based on Psalm 40 (He put a new song in my mouth/A hymn of praise to our God). Another solid selection is “I’ve Got a Story,” which teams Tori Kelly with NEEDTOBREATHE.

Israeli singer Eden Golan offers spectacular vocals on “Beautiful Horizon,” while Drew and Ellie Holcomb’s “Take Courage My Heart” has a distinctly Dylan folk sensibility. Michael Iskander, who portrays David in the video series (and can sing!), duets with American Idol finalist Gabby Barrett on the orchestral “Lead Me to the Water,” its melody borrowing from Middle Eastern music.

‘After Your Heart,’ Chris Tomlin, from House of David: Season One

‘Beautiful Horizon,’ Eden Golan, from House of David: Season One

Holy hip hop star Lecrae joins recent Capitol Christian Music Group signee Jamie MacDonald on “Unbreakable.” Lexington, Kentucky native Anne Wilson blends CCM and country as she croons “Won’t Go Wasted.” Tasha Cobbs Leonard contributes “Help,” a ballad based on Psalm 121 (I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills). Not only is “Help” the album’ s finest selection, but it’s Tasha’s best performance in recent years and has the bonafides to become a single on both the CCM and gospel charts. Nigerian-born vocalist Blessing Offor closes the album with an anthemic performance of the David-and-Goliath-inspired crossover track “Giants Fall.”

Notwithstanding the variety of artists, the songs and arrangements have that quintessentially dramatic small screen soundtrack quality. Some are celebratory, others brooding, and all draw inspiration directly or indirectly from the Psalms and blend rock, pop, folk, and gospel. All are melodic and none are fillers.

Picks: “Help,” “Giants Fall”

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…a family affair…

AMAZING GRACE

New Converted Voices of Tupelo, Mississippi

Myleshouse Music

(released July 9, 2024)

On their latest offering, Amazing Grace, the New Converted Voices of Tupelo, Mississippi, sing with a confidence that confirms their veteran status in the music business.

The album is a family affair. Lead singer Tobie Blanch not only dedicates the mid-tempo title track to his late father but pays an even higher compliment to him by opening the album and introducing the song with a two-minute snippet from a crackly 1968 single of his father’s Blue Star Juniors singing “Amazing Grace.” Joining his father on the Statue side is Blanch’s sister Irene Mabry and recently deceased brother, Larry P. Middlebrook. The side may have been recorded in ’68 but it sounds twenty years older in style.

The 1968 single of ‘Amazing Grace’ by the Blue Star Juniors in 1968, featuring the father of Tobie Branch, lead singer of the New Converted Voices of Tupelo, Mississippi, along with Toby’s sister Irene Mabry, and his brother, Larry P. Middlebrook. This snippet of the Blue Star Juniors’ recording of ‘Amazing Grace’ is included as the prelude to the New Converted Voices’ version of ‘Amazing Grace’ as heard below.

‘Amazing Grace,’ New Converted Voices of Tupelo, Mississippi, from Amazing Grace

Blanch’s nephew, the silky-voiced Sedarian Berry, leads the mellow “Count on Him,” a paean to the Lord’s constancy. “Take Care of It All,” written and led by another nephew, Lamar Mabry, concludes that no matter how many problems we endure on earth, the Lord will take care of it all when we cross “the separation line.” There will be “no more crying, no more suffering” because there will be no more sickness, senseless killing, or general lack of respect. Amen to that.

Eschatology figures prominently on other tracks, as well. “Trying So Hard,” an instruction manual on how to make it to one’s eternal home, moves to the same medium-drive tempo as “Amazing Grace,” and has a similarly bluesy vamp tagged onto it. “Promise Land,” which the group recorded originally in 1993 and now features Blanch’s second cousin, Minister Darius Brown, is a prayer for heavenly assistance to get to the pearly gates. This new version has an appropriately contemporary rhythm section.

‘Trying So Hard,’ New Converted Voices of Tupelo, Mississippi, from Amazing Grace

The album finishes with “Just a Little Talk,” a languid, organ-drenched, and downright countrified version of Cleavant Derricks Sr.’s classic gospel song. It’s here where the quartet’s harmonies impress the best. In true form, they add what Derricks’ original didn’t have–a vamp.

Picks: “Amazing Grace,” “Trying So Hard”

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…strong singer, rapid-fire rhymer, earnest evangelist…

LET’S WORSHIP

Elohin

CF Entertainment

(release date: May 19, 2024)

The URL of Elohin’s website spells out the phrase “not your average rapper,” and that’s about right. He demonstrates his differentness on the eight-song album Let’s Worship.

Born and raised in Detroit, Lon Harris, aka Elohin (pronounced EL-oh-in) is a strong singer, a rapid-fire rhymer, and an earnest evangelist. His penetrating beats incorporate contemporary hip hop elements such as samples and sped-up voices. But rather than falling into a groove as so many Christian hip-hop projects tend to do, Elohin mixes things up while staying true to the album’s core messages of praise, worship, and the need for personal and communal authenticity.

These various components are demonstrated on “Goodness,” which incorporates a small gospel group, though auto-tune has been added to Elohin’s voice and he doesn’t need it. An atmospheric introduction on “Breathe” morphs into a club-ready beat as Elohin raps about rekindling his innocence and using his newfound authenticity to preach to the people.

‘Goodness,’ Elohin, from Let’s Worship

‘’I Will Lift (Spontaneous),’ Elohin, from Let’s Worship

“I Will Lift (Spontaneous)” has an altar call vibe, as Elohin invites listeners to ask God for the healing they need. If the invitation is spontaneous, the arrangement is surely not. On “Bow Down,” Elohin offers his most ardent argument for authenticity: that people tend to honor church culture instead of practice kingdom culture. “Denominational truth is not the same as Biblical truth,” he proclaims, “we need to let some things die.” It’s a courageous but compelling spoken word moment.

Features include Kelo and Amber Ramsey on “Convinced;” the exquisitely voiced Ramsey appears again on “Holy of Holies,” the latter extending the ambient mysticism of “I Will Lift” on this piece, which is the brief album’s highpoint.

Let’s Worship is only about a half-hour long, but it gives listeners plenty to consider.

Picks: “I Will Lift (Spontaneous),” “Holy of Holies.”

Chicago-based Bob Marovich launched The Journal of Gospel Music on the tenth anniversary of its predecessor website, The Black Gospel Blog, which he founded July 28, 2004, as the first blog to cover African American gospel music. He is a gospel music historian, author and radio host.  Since 2001 he has produced “Gospel Memories,” a show featuring classic gospel, spiritual and jubilee music, as well as interviews with gospel legends. It airs Saturday mornings on Chicago’s WLUW-FM and throughout the week on several Internet and low-power FM radio stations throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Bob’s work has been published in the Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music (Routledge 2005), Encyclopedia of African American Music (Greenwood Publishing 2010), and in the ARSC Journal of the Association of Recorded Sound Collections.