In Reverent Fear
Stomacher

Anxiety Records, August 2006
Genre: rock
Official Site: www.myspace.com/inreverentfear
Rating: 4 out of 5

In Reverent Fears new album, Stomacher, is a devastating and powerful show of the bands musical range; balanced between their loose-and-reckless moments of intensity and their more subtle and haunting sections with lounging melodies and guitar lines, the album is tightly structured, each song polished and refined. It has been six years since the members first formed in Concord, CA, playing shows up and down the coast and finding their sound. In 2001, before most of the members were of legal age, the band released their first EP, Living a Life in Debt to Another, helping fuel their immersion in California's various music scenes. In 2003 they released their first full-length, Written in the A.M., gaining them a new wave of followers and sending them across the country, where they played such big attendance festivals as Warped Tour, Furnace Fest and Cornerstone. Stomacher is a culmination of all their passion, intellect and experience, and since the bands inception two members have gained degrees in philosophy and theology. Their music embodies that rare marriage between the mind and the heart, without sacrificing the sheer power that has always been at the bands core.

I get a lot of cd's and sometimes I don't always remember when I got it or who sent it.  This is exactly what happened to Stomacher by In Reverent Fear. Often when that happens there was a good reason for it, never heard of them and it is usually not good quality. The album starts and I 'm afraid my first thoughts were true but that quickly changes. Wow, I think I found a diamond in the rough with In Reverent Fear's album. There is an edginess to this band.  The melodic overtones often become backdrops to the experimental vision of this band.  It has creative depth which is often left off on many albums I listen to today. The first few tracks are great indie/modern focused rock tracks and then out of no where comes a more screamo influence with "666777888." "Tracks like "Heavy On It" have an indie focus but with distortion to give it that unique touch. At times I felt like it was a mixture of old school Beanbag with the melodic side of Blindside. The overall alternative focus of the band lends no comparison with artistic musical qualities throughout this overall diverse musical album.

The vocals by Jarrod Taylor are the same quality as the music which in my opinion is excellent. There is a range that offers  perfect blend with the melodic riffs of the band and an ability to draw power within the vocals on the more rock influenced tracks. The lyrics begin to tell stories that often seem to have a cryptic quality about them. Overall a positive album with some Christian influence.