Blessed By a Broken Heart
All is Fair in Love and War

I first heard of these guys as our ties were cut with Blood and Ink Records.  There was a lot of buzz about this band but we quickly forgot until a quick message on my space.  Blessed By a Broken Heart has learned that if they are going to get promoted then they must do it themselves.  After getting more than 20,000 friends on my space the band continued to self-promote.  Recently at Cornerstone 2005, I noticed a guy dressed in a pair of shirt with a sign duck taped to his chest saying come see Blessed By a Broken Heart. A small speaker was also attached to his waist as his guitarist rocked out as fans called out requests.  This quickly led to us being led to their van where they gave us a cd and quickly asked to setup a live interview, which will be posted shortly. We had no clue what to expect from this rowdy group of Canadians. What we saw was a packed out tent at Cornerstone with a frenzy of mosh pits, slam dancing and pure metal. 

Musically
Pure metal with touches and hints of 80's throwback is what you find from start to finish. The album starts with a great and interesting intro finished by a young woman quoting from the 80's "Love is a battlefield." That is what we then find on "Another Day/Another War." Pure chaos breaks through with an onslaught of brutal metal riffs, crunching bass lines and rapid precessions of double kick drums. The album is chaotic but very technical in approach.  The guitar solos are intense and the breakouts are full of talent. "That Knife Ain't for Butter" includes some of the fastest double kick drum I have ever heard.  It is a machine gun frenzy with great breakouts of metal core. "The Devil is the Don" is one of the best tracks on the album.  "Mic Skilz" has some good breakouts but the song is full of corny nonsense and has an almost Limp Bizkit approach at times. This is a brutal metal song with a more serious approach and none of the 80's throwback whatsoever. If you are looking for an album with great throwback to the 80's with some electric drumming and quotes thrown in then you must check this album out. "Somekind of Wonderful" even has samples from the 80's movie "Some Kind of Wonderful." Yes I was a child of the 80's! My one complaint is there are only 9 tracks and one is an intro. 

Lyrically/Vocally
Overall, there is a lot of variety on the vocal side.  Full of amazing intense growls and some 80's falsetto vocals which will give The Darkness a run for their money. "Mic Skilz" is an absolutely horrible track that you will only want to listen to once.  It has a lot of just rambling vocal sounds and even the "ABC's". Overall, the lyrics are incredible and challenge us to stand in times of battle and know that God is with us.  These guys have a compassionate response to a world that is often very harsh towards Christians. The songs allow you to come to gripes with pain and temptation and clearly show Jesus as being the remedy. 

For a very different approach to a world of very monotonous metal, this is an album you need to check out and get in touch with!