Reviewed by Lins Honeyman

One of the dozens of releases that make up the ApologetiX canon, this 2017 album from the Pittsburgh-based Christian parody band continues to showcases the group's skill at recreating authentic musical facsimiles of tried and tested mainstream songs before ripping out each song's lyrics and implanting Christian-themed ones in their place. For many, doing this to Beatles classics like "Get Back" and "Lady Madonna" (rehashed here as "Ha-Bakk" and "Maybe Madonna") may be tantamount to painting a moustache on the Mona Lisa but there is no getting away from the sheer musicianship of it all. For instance, "Once You See Truth, You Can't Unsee It" sounds just like REM doing "What's The Frequency, Kenneth?" right down to the backwards guitar solo whilst "Free Indeed" gives AC/DC's "TNT" a run for its money. What doesn't work quite so well - and this is really rather the point of it all - is the replacement lyrics. Whilst well-meaning and Scripture-referencing, the alternative words just feel clunky and out of place when put in front of such classic songs and quite often it's hard to make things out on account of lines not scanning right or the brain being too used to hearing the original words. One wonders why ApologetiX don't come up with their own material given the skill of all involved but hats off to them for trying to communicate God's word in this way and for successfully navigating what must be a nightmare copyright scenario.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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