Promises for the Imperfect

by Rick AndersonNumber One Gun is not one of those Christian bands that hides its religious messages behind coy, pseudo-romantic double-entendres. On the other hand, they never say the word "Jesus," either. What they do instead is preach, quite explicitly, to what sounds like a small crowd of spiritually confused friends and acquaintances. "All you should do is die to yourself," they say on "We Are," and you know they're talking about conversion, not suicide. The same goes for deceptively ambiguous lines like "Do you notice how you change when you believe?" ("There Is Hope") and "You think that someone's calling your name/Well, isn't it time?" ("Time Is Now"). When they sing that "This life will never end," you know they're not actually talking about this life, but a different one -- one that they're hoping you'll decide for yourself to embark on. If you're not particularly interested in the metaphysics, you can just relax and luxuriate in the muscular guitars and really stunningly pretty songs. Imagine the best screamo album you've ever heard, only without any screaming -- just lots of great, meat-and-potatoes hooks and vocals that are sensitive-sounding without ever tipping over into wimpiness. Very highly recommended, but docked half a star for featuring two songs that begin with the word "and."