Concert Review--DISCIPLE (Destiny Foursquare Church, Rapid City, SD 7/24/19)

Normally, I don't drive hundreds of miles to see a concert, especially when there is only one band playing.  But, this Disciple show in Rapid City, SD was the impetus behind a family vacation (yes, we also saw Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, the Cosmos, Custer State Park, etc., etc.), as not only do I love this band, but both of my sons are Disciple...err...disciples(?), as well.

As I stated before, there was no opening band for this show, which found the band on a long stretch across the United States, heading west to California before trekking south to Texas.  Not having an opening act is a bit of a risk for any band, because of a couple of things.  First, you minimize the draw of the show, because sometimes people will come to see the opening acts...maybe they know the band or are already fans of those early bands...and then they stay for the headliner's show, as well.  Without an opener, that draw is gone.  Secondly, with no opener, the success or failure of the show is placed squarely on that one band, and if things go badly, people can potentially leave with a bad taste in their mouth toward that band.  Fortunately, Disciple has established themselves as one of the main forces in the Christian hard rock world (behind only Skillet and perhaps Thousand Foot Krutch and Red, at least to listeners outside the Christian sphere), so the draw was a decent one, especially considering the show was on a Wednesday.  At one point I had done a headcount and tallied 89 people in attendance, but I am pretty sure that number exceeded 100 by the time the show started.  And, as far as having a bad show?  I had attended three previous Disciple shows over the past 5 years, and every single one was solid.  This show made it four-for-four, as the band was in top form both in sound and performance.

The band kicked off their show at about 7:15, with long-time members Joey West (drums) and Josiah Prince (guitar) taking the stage first, followed by Andrew Stanton (guitar), and finally the exuberant frontman, Disciple's founder and sole-original member, Kevin Young.  I am not sure if there is an off-stage bass player, or if the bass lines are pre-recorded/triggered by the sound man, but I can say with 100% certainty that the vocals were live, as were the guitars and drums.  This has become a big issue of late, with so many bands being accused (and accusing each other) of lip-syncing and using pre-recorded tracks.  Yes, there were some effects tracks used here, such as the cello introduction to "Dear X", but I never felt that I was being robbed of a live performance, as it is simply not feasible for most bands to travel with multiple non-member performers, and the use of these effects in no way negatively affected the show for me.

Once the show kicked off, the majority of the crowd immediately went to the front of the stage area, with my wife and sons joining me at the very front of the crowd, right in front of Stanton, about ten feet left-of-center stage.  It was straight into the music for the band, with the band launching into consecutive full-throttle rockers, "Rise Up" from 2005's self-titled album followed by "The Name" from 2014's Attack, the album where the current line-up came together.  "Secret Weapon" from the latest album, Long Live The Rebels, followed, with "Invisible" somewhat slowing things for a moment, before "First Love", also from LLtR concluded the "first movement", if you will, of the show.  By this time, the crowd was definitely fully into the show, as was the band, who put on their

full-scale show for the appreciative crowd.  If you have never attended a Disciple show, you are really missing something, as Kevin Young is an absolute ball of non-stop motion and energy, as he is all over the stage, jumping onto and off of the various boxes set up on stage, and putting everything he has into his vocals, as well.

At this point, Kevin took a couple of minutes to catch his breath and to talk to the crowd about the band's soon-to-be-released new album, Love Letter Killshot, which will be the third collaboration from the current version of the band, which is sometimes referred to as to as Disciple 3.0.  To give the fans a taste of what they can expect, the band launched into two new tracks, "Cuff The Criminal" and "Reanimate".  "Cuff The Criminal" features some electronic elements, but still rocks very hard, while "Reanimate" definitely falls more on the metallic end of the Disciple music spectrum.  I would imagine both will find significant success on Christian rock radio, but I find it too bad that the stations such as Sirius/XM Octane will likely ignore these tracks (and continue to ignore this band), as they are likely considered to be too Christian for their listener base.  Check out the videos below for BOTH new songs in the live setting (not from the show I attended), as well as the promo video for "Cuff The Criminal"....

          

By the way, the first lines of the verses are performed by Prince on lead vocals before Young comes in on the second half.  In concert, this song is a big audience participation number, with Young inciting everyone to jump around during the chorus section, followed by a group sing along on the big "whoa-oh-oh" section, which was a big hit with those in attendance.  My family had a lot of fun bouncing around and chanting along, and it was especially entertaining to see my seven year-old's shoes light up with every jump!  

From there, the band returned to more familiar waters, with two of the band's biggest hits, "God Is With Us" and "Erase", both from Long Live The Rebels, leading the show into it's midpoint and Young's traditional sermon.

For those who have never attended a Disciple show, Young regularly spends about 15 minutes speaking to the crowd, usually mixing in stories from his youth to help illustrate his point, which is based in Scripture.  On this particular occasion, Young spoke about society's need to win at all costs and our need to seek approval and reward for everything we do in life.  He talked about his band's successes and failures, all culminating in receiving a Dove Award (think Christian Grammy) that now sits on a shelf in Young's home, essentially meaningless and more or less forgotten.  Young became very emotional at one point as he talked about his youth, about not fitting in as a child and teen, and about eventually being befriended by the most popular student in school because that student had the courage to care about someone outside of his circle (they remain best friends today, according to Young).  The crowd was obviously moved by Young's willingness to bare his own emotional scars, which led the rest of the band back on stage to kick off the band's biggest track, the 2010 Christian Rock Number One song, "Dear X", which is also my oldest son's favorite song.  It was awesome to

see him get into the song so much, and the picture I managed to take during the track was, in my opinion, the best shot of the entire show, as it showcases a smiling Young next to the song's title as West hammers away at his kit.

"Game On" followed, with a three song medley of early Disciple scorchers being melded into what the band refers to as their "heavy medley".  Portions of videos to the songs are spliced together to show the band in their younger stages, particularly focusing on Young and his change in appearance and style over the years.  For those of us who have been following the band for more than a decade, this was a pretty cool treat, but I have a feeling much of the crowd had no idea where these songs came from.  The band continued in a heavier vein with the post-hardcore infused track, "Scars Remain", closing out the "regular" show.

After several chants of "one more song", the band returned to the stage, starting off with "After The World", a largely acoustic track that gave Young a chance to showcase that he is so much more than just a screamer.  The energy was cranked back up to ten for the final two songs of the evening, both from Attack, as Young broke out the band's signature flag for "Dead Militia", and then closed the evening with another massive fan scream-along track, "Radical".  All in all, the show ran for roughly an hour and fifty minutes, which is impressive for any band performing without a support act.

The band cooled down for a few minutes, before Young, Prince, and West returned to the church sanctuary and took their places behind a table and talked with fans while taking photos and signing autographs.  I'm not sure why Stanton didn't come out, but Prince stated that he was not feeling very well, himself, so perhaps Stanton was under the weather, as well.  All three men took not of the Kansas City Royals shirt and hat I was wearing (and pretty much ALWAYS wear), stating that they knew that KC had just swept their beloved Atlanta Braves team, and we chatted baseball briefly as they signed my sons' CDs and took a group picture with my 11 year old, which was likely the highlight of the entire vacation for him!

I was impressed with the show from start to finish, and even more so after talking to Prince, who was obviously struggling a bit with his voice.  This was the band's fifth show in six days, but you would never know it, as the energy level was high throughout the evening.  I was especially grateful for the band taking the time to chat with their fans, as they still had to load up and head off to another show the following night, but they never rushed anyone they were talking with.  I also want to say thanks to Destiny Foursquare Church and whomever helped to finance the concert, as amazingly, this was a FREE show to all attendees.  Truly a blessing for those who may not have been financially able to attend otherwise.

As to the venue, Destiny Foursquare Church has a very large sanctuary area and an excellent stage set-up which should appeal to other bands who may be travelling through the area.  The acoustics were very good, with no echo issues, which has been the case with shows I have attended in churches and smaller venues in the past.  The band was able to set up a merchandise area near the entrance to the church, which was easy to navigate, and the volunteers were all very pleasant to work with.  The merchandise selection was a bit thin, especially in the t-shirt department, but hopefully that is because Disciple is selling out of everything on a regular basis!  Both boys still managed to find shirts they didn't already have, and anyone who purchased a t-shirt also received a free copy of Long Live The Rebels on CD, likely so that inventory is cleared out in preparation for the arrival of Love Letter Killshot  

This was a great experience in an intimate environment that allowed for a lot of interaction between the band and concert goers.  This was my youngest's first time seeing Disciple, and the third time for my oldest, and both are ready to see the band again any time they roll even remotely through our area!

Keep up with Disciple's tour schedule HERE.

Reviews Index

THE GRAVE DENIAL "The Grave Denial EP"

(c) 2019 Independent Release

1. Fake
2. Breath Of Death
3. Take The Pain
4. God Awaits

Steven Rester--Vocals
Ryan Carver--All Guitars
Jacob Hannah--Drums

"Never give up, Never surrender!"  Those are the words of Tim Allen's character on one of my favorite sci-fi comedies, Galaxy Quest!  It springs to mind because that had to be the philosophy of The Grave Denial, a new modern metal band based out of Nashville...and Phoenix...as in Tennessee and Arizona!  Following a relocation of one of the members, as well as a decision to change the band's name, which could cause confusion among the band's followers, it would be easy to throw in the towel for a lot of bands.  But, thanks to the digital world, putting a band together, and keeping it together despite large geographical separation is not the problem that it once was.  So, for The Grave Denial, the separation of members led to a perseverance and focus on the end goal, which was the creation of this new 4-track EP.

Formerly known as EverCross, The Grave Denial plays a heavy brand of modern hard rock/metal which they deem "metal with a message"!  Bands such as Demon Hunter, Fight The Fury, and As We Ascend would be fair comparisons to the sound of The Grave Denial, while the band also claims Metallica, Iron Maiden, Trivium, and Parkway Drive as personal influences.  In my opinion, the closest the guys come to sounding like any of these bands is As We Ascend, and that is with good reason, as Jake Jones, vocalist and guitarist for that band, produced this EP.  That is not to say that the band comes off as AwA clones, because they do not, with Rester generally employing a far gruffer vocal style than Jones, and the heft of three of the four tracks falls more in line with Demon Hunter or Fight The Fury than anything As We Ascend has done thus far.

The EP opens with the lead single, and my personal favorite track, the most "radio-friendly" song here, in "Fake".  Currently climbing the Christian Rock charts and receiving strong airplay from Christian rock stations, "Fake" deserves to be heard by a much larger, less exclusive audience, as it ranks right up there with just about anything Octane is currently playing on SiriusXM satellite radio.  Some programmed elements open the track before Rester's vocals jump in along with the rest of the band.  For the majority of the track, Rester sings in a clean style, which is very reminiscent of the approach used by Jones on As We Ascend's debut effort. A song about putting on a false front in order to deceive others, this crunchy number has a crushingly heavy chorus section, starting with Rester's building roar of "You're....so....FAKE"!  The rest of the chorus is equally biting with its condemnation of the song's subject matter, as Rester more smoothly sings about, "All the faces you create/ All the lies make your escape, /Honey dripping from your lips/ Burning bridges, sinking ships...".  The guitars are hard-edged and aggressive, and the drum patterns fall outside the typical, varying from ther cadence and approach that is so common on most hard radio rock these days.

From here, things only get heavier.  "Breath of Death" has some classic guitar elements to it, with big power chords at the beginning, but things change rapidly when Rester comes roaring in on the verse sections in a decidedly more modern vocal approach.  Then, during the pre-chorus and chorus portions, Rester's lower-range vocals have an almost Gothic feel to the way they are sung over Hannah's double bass rhythms.  There is a tempo change coming out of the second chorus, with some straight-forward metal rhythm guitar riffing and a nice metal solo from Carver, before some effects-enhanced drums lead Rester back into the fray for one more run through the pre-chorus section, and a power chord fades the song out.  A pretty cool combination of styles and approaches all mixed together in one song, showcasing the band's diversity and influences.

"Take The Pain", with its chug-chug-chugga-chug rhythm guitars and punchy drums is extremely catchy, especially with the chant along chorus and a really cool guitar solo from Carver.  There are some production effects added to certain parts of Rester's vocals, but they only serve to enhance what he is already doing with his harsh screams.  Don't think something ridiculous like AutoTune here, rather think of how a computer might digitize and fade out the end of a scream.  When done with minimal repetition, it is a cool effect, and The Grave Denial nails its application perfectly here.

"God Awaits" closes things out, and once again, a cool, catchy chorus is a huge part of the draw of this song.  Sang rather than shouted or screamed, the chorus really stands out from the rest of the song, which is a choice combination of guitar riffs, barked vocals from Rester, and rapid fire drum fills and syncopated rhythms leading into and out of the chorus from Hannah.  There's also a cool vocal bridge before each chorus, with Rester screaming out "Fear", "Death", "Hope" and "Pray" while a lower, more spoken return follows each word.  Pretty cool stuff.  Carver lays out a fairly extended, melodic solo before the layered vocals of the chorus take their final few runs through the song.  A great way to close out an all-too-short EP from a band I am definitely going to keep an eye and ear on! 

As one would expect with Jones as the engineer and producer, the sound here is top notch and professional despite no label backing.  The guitars are crisp, the vocals sharp, and the drums have a full, hard-hitting sound, with nice separation throughout the EP.  Getting Jones on board was quite the coup for the band, and I have been told they hope to have him work with the band on their full-length album when it is ready to go.

As great as the music is, what impresses me equally is the mission of the men involved in The Grave Denial.  Fully willing to back up their Christian stance, the guys have all declared themselves to "be there" for their listeners whenever necessary, and have gone so far as to set up an on-line chat on their website, and even published their own personal phone numbers for people to be able to reach them if they need someone to talk to.  Now THAT is dedication and putting your money where your mouth is!  If you feel you need to talk to them, or if you want to tell them how much you love their music or their ministry, you can find more information at www.TheGraveDenial.com .

Hopefully, we will see actual CD copies available at some point, but for now, you can get your digital EP at CD Baby.

Rating:  An excellent debut!  8/10

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